Philosopher and sociologist.
Born in Millau (France), his work reveals the principal tension in post-modern society. His texts on contemporary individualism, the abandonment of traditional values, forgetting history and consumerist practices map out the issues and attitudes of today’s citizenry immersed in the capitalist whirl. His essays have been translated into twenty languages. His 1983 book L’ère du vide analyses how the transition from modernism to post-modernism came about, with a decisive influence on the analyses and diagnoses of our time. In his last book he considers the phenomenon of luxury, which is no longer a privilege of the upper classes, but its enjoyment and dysfunctions have been democratised in recent years. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of six universities and a knight of the French national Legion of Honour.
