ABSTRACT
This chapter compares Zygmunt Bauman's understanding of freedom with that expressed in a liberal style of thought, to clarify further its nature and to open up new areas of dialogue with his sociology more broadly. The liberal idea of freedom, as developed here, is employed simply as a heuristic device in order to understand better the sociological writings of Zygmunt Bauman. The chapter considers the importance of the concept of public space in Bauman's English-language writings. It develops the argument by considering how the liberal focus on the specifically private freedom of individuals translates into public fears of the 'Other' and to the process identified by Bauman as moral adiaphorization. The chapter concludes by demonstrating how various aspects of Bauman's understanding of freedom can be understood better from this analysis, specifically in terms of the relationship between freedom and insecurity.
