The theorist of the “liquid society”, one of the most influential contemporary philosophers and sociologists, he studied at the University of Warsaw and the London School of Economics. From 1971 to 1990 he was professor of sociology at the University of Leeds. He has always been a keen observer of post-modernity and the dynamics of globalization, and is the author of numerous papers and publications, including the most recent: "Wasted Lives. Modernity and its Outcasts" (2004) and "Living on Borrowed Time" (2009).