Renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman dies at 91

Zygmunt Bauman, one of the most prominent and prolific European sociologists of recent decades, has died at the age of 91. The Polish-born left-wing thinker’s works explored the fluidity of identity in the modern world, the Holocaust, consumerism and globalization.

Bauman died at his home in Leeds, England, on Monday surrounded by his family, according to Anna Zejdler-Janiszewska, a Warsaw-based philosophy professor and friend of Bauman’s who was informed of his death by his wife.

Renowned for an approach that incorporated philosophy and other disciplines, Bauman was a strong moral voice for the poor and dispossessed in a world upended by globalization. Whether he was writing about the Holocaust or globalization, his focus remained on how humans can create a dignified life through ethical decisions.

Though he was a vocal critic of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, once likening the West Bank to the Warsaw Ghetto, Bauman lived and taught for a short time in Israel. He lectured at universities in Tel Aviv and Haifa from 1969 to 1971, before he and his family settled in the UK.

Bauman’s wife of 62 years, Janina Bauman, died in 2009. He is survived by his second wife, Aleksandra Jasinska-Kania, the daughter of postwar Polish president Boleslaw Bierut, three daughters and several grandchildren, including prominent Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard.

— AP