Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
With the concept of “liquid modernity”, Zygmunt Bauman offers a striking diagnosis of contemporary society: our world, he argues, has lost its solid forms. What used to be stable and predictable—work, relationships, life paths—is now flexible, uncertain, and in constant flux. Modernity has become liquid: structures dissolve, reference points vanish, and individuals are increasingly left
With its provocative title We Have Never Been Modern, Bruno Latour radically questions the taken-for-granted foundations of the modern world. The book is one of the central texts in the sociology of science and marks a turning point in thinking about the relationships between nature, technology, and society. Latour argues that modernity is an illusion—an
Gender Trouble (1990) by Judith Butler is one of the most influential works in gender studies and queer theory. Butler breaks with traditional assumptions about sex and identity, deconstructs binary gender orders, and shows that gender is not “natural” but socially produced—performative and repeatable. The book has fundamentally shaped feminist theory and the social sciences.
Risk Society (1986) by Ulrich Beck laid the foundation for a sociology of modernity that no longer focuses primarily on class and production relations but on socially produced risks. The book quickly became a classic in the social sciences and has significantly shaped debates on globalization, individualization, and ecological crises. What is a Risk Society?
Social Systems, published in 1984, marks Niklas Luhmann’s foundational contribution to his extensive sociological theory of society. The book represents a shift from an action-theoretical systems approach to an autopoietic theory of social systems centered on communication. Luhmann’s theory is among the most complex yet influential models of modern sociology—a key work that challenges existing
The Theory of Communicative Action by Jürgen Habermas is widely regarded as one of the most ambitious sociological projects of the 20th century. Published in two volumes in 1981, it develops a comprehensive social theory that places language, communication, and rationality at its core. Habermas aims to renew Critical Theory, moving beyond purely economic or