The author attempts to analyse Zygmunt Bauman’s ideological and political assumptions affecting his sociological and social journalistic writing. The most interesting is the process of ideological evolution of this outstanding sociologist starting with his accession to Marxism and communism then passing through the stage of late social democracy and finally reaching postmodernism – this evolution is visible in his many papers dealing with the crisis of the contemporary civilization.
Bauman focuses his attention on criticising the outcomes of neo-liberal politics in modern capitalist countries and on forecasts of what can happen in the future. It can be stated that at the end of his scholar and journalistic activities Zygmunt Bauman represented a moderate optimism, but his main concern was the future of the world.