Modernity and the Holocaust

Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017) was Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the Universities of Leeds and Warsaw. He is the author of many works including Legislators and Interpreters (Polity Press) and Modernity and Ambivalence (Polity Press). He was also awarded the Theodor W. Adorno Prize in 1998.

'Modernity and the Holocaust is a very fine book. Broad in scope and penetrating in analysis, it is disturbing as its subject matter demands, yet never fails to preserve the crucial element of reflective distance out of which new or more acute knowledge is able to emerge.' Times Higher Education Supplement 'Such is the concentrated brilliance of this study that it is sure to find an appreciative audience in every field of research which touches on the Holocaust.' Times Literary Supplement'This is a profound book, brilliant in its insights ... It demands wide readership.' Political Studies'The book should be widely read by students of the social sciences, since it is, apart from a provocative analysis of explanations of genocide, a critique of sociology, which Bauman claims has neglected the ethical dilemmas posed by the destruction of the Jews.' Sociology

• Foreword. 1. Introduction: Sociology after the Holocaust.2. Modernity, Racism, Extermination - I.3. Modernity, Racism, Extermination - II.4. On the Uniqueness and Normality of the Holocaust.5. Soliciting Cooperation of the Victims.6. The Ethics of Obedience (reading Milgram).7. Towards a Sociological Theory of Morality Rationality and Shame.Index.