ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explicitly focuses on the problems in Zygmunt Bauman's sociological writings and it is as a contribution to this emerging debate that has addressed the line of argument. It suggests one way of opening up Bauman's work to a more critical assessment is by focusing upon the concept of freedom in his English-language writings. The chapter shows that Bauman's propensity to focus upon what he regards as the anxiety-inducing aspects of the 'liquid modern' society can be understood in relation to his understanding of freedom as a source of insecurity. Bauman seems increasingly prepared to criticize the mechanisms by which individuals seek to cope with the systemically-produced problems of 'liquid life'. Bauman suggests that one only ever thinks of happiness at a time when something is making one suffer. The dream of happiness is thus the dream of an absence of suffering.
