Since we were talking methods..and other stuff

I just bought Zygmunt Bauman's "Identity" book and was reading the introduction by Benedetto Vecchi. I really liked the way Vecchi described Bauman's method.

...the methodology he brings to bear on the subject aims above all to 'reveal' the myriad connections between the object under investigation and other manifestations of life in human society. Indeed, this sociologist of Polish origin finds it essential to gather the 'truth' of every feeling, lifestyle and collective behavior. This is only possible if you analyse the social, cultural and political context in which a particular phenomenon exists as well as the phenomenon itself" [p. 2]

What it means to be a sociologist:

For a sociologist, this means perceiving sociology not as a discpline 'separate' from other fields of knowledge, but as providing the analytical tool to establish a lively interaction between it and philosophy, social psychology, and narrative. [p.3]

And finally from identity to nostalgia:

...recourses to identity should be considered an ongoing process of redefining oneself and of the invention and reinvention of one's own history. This is where we find the ambivalence of identity: nostalgia for the past together with complete accordance with 'liquid modernity' [p. 7]