This book is about the central figure of our contemporary, 'liquid modern' times - the man or woman with no bonds, and particularly with none of the fixed or durable bonds that would allow the effort of self-definition and self-assertion to come to a rest. Having no permanent bonds, the denizen of our liquid modern society must tie whatever bonds they can to engage with others, using their own wits, skill and dedication. But none of these bonds are guaranteed to last. Moreover, they must be tied loosely so that they can be untied again, quickly and as effortlessly as possible, when circumstances change - as they surely will in our liquid modern society, over and over again. The uncanny frailty of human bonds, the feeling of insecurity that frailty inspires, and the conflicting desires to tighten the bonds yet keep them loose, are the principal themes of this important new book by Zygmunt Bauman, one of the most original and influential social thinkers of our time. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology and in the social sciences and humanities generally, and it will appeal to anyone interested in the changing nature of human relationships.

齊格蒙．包曼（Zygmunt Bauman）

當代最具影響力的社會學家、思想家，也是研究現代性與後現代性問題最著名的理論家，現為里茲大學與華沙大學社會學系名譽教授。包曼對社會學與社會理論的卓越貢獻，使得他分別於 1990 年與 1998 年獲頒亞馬菲獎（Premio Europeo Amalfi per la Sociologia e le Scienze Sociali）與阿多諾獎（Theodor-W.-Adorno-Preis）。

包曼的主要著作包括他稱為「現代性三部曲」的《立法者與詮釋者》（Legislators and Interpreters，1987）、《現代性與大屠殺》（Modernity and the Holocaust, 1989）和《現代性與矛盾心理》（Modernity and Ambivalence, 1991）；而貝哈茲（Peter Beilharz）則把《後現代倫理學》（Postmodern Ethics，1993）、《斷片生活》（Life in Fragments，1995）與《後現代性及其缺憾》（Postmodernity and Its Discontents, 1997）稱為「後現代性三部曲」；近年來，包曼以「液態現代性」作為核心概念，陸續出版了《液態現代性》（Liquid Modernity，2000）、《液態生活》（Liquid Life，2005）、《液態恐懼》（Liquid Fear, 2006）、《液態時代》（Liquid Times，2006）以及本書。