Metaphorically speaking- Metaphors as methodological and moral signifiers of the sociology of Zygmunt Bauman

Zygmunt Bauman is known to be one of the leading social theorists and commentators in contemporary sociology whose theoretical or diagnostical analysis of phenomena such as globalisation, community, identity, genocide, individualisation or modernity warrants his status as one of the most widely read sociologists of our time. However, Bauman throughout his work also develops an often overlooked methodological stance based to a certain extent on metaphorical reasoning. Throughout this piece, the authors focus attention on Bauman's metaphorical cornucopia and how it is informed by a deep-seated moral commitment. Apart from performing the function of methodological devices unveiling a selective and subjective, yet deeper, understanding of the social world, the metaphors also reveal the inherently moral core of Bauman's sociological endeavour.