Official fear, the foundation of the secular power and the legitimation of its disciplinary requirements is, according to Mikhail Bakhtin, formed after the pattern of cosmic fear that plays a similar role in relation to ecclesiastic powers. Powers-that-be present themselves as the shield and insurance against the dangers arising from uncertain future and existential insecurity. Having retreated from protection against uncertainty and insecurity gener- ated by the markets, state powers refocus currently their claim to the sub- jects’ obedience on issues of personal safety.

Sociology, like poetry, explores/discovers/creates hidden or heretofore non-existing human potentialities; both rebel against closing, identifying the-already-achieved reality with the limit of that potential. Sociology is destined to sustain the autonomy of, simultaneously, human society and human individuals, and autonomy means the awareness of the human origins of social reality and of the possibility of making it different from what it is. In the age of rapid and radical individualization, the task of sociology is to service self-interpretation with the view of widening the sphere of human autonomy through disclosure of multiple social connection which contribute to its present form and future changes

Of sex, eroticism and love, the first is natural and limited in its forms, while the other two are cultural products infinite in their expressions and applications. The history of eroticism is, essentially, a history of changing border conflicts and shifting alliances between the three members of the triad. The postmodern novelty is emancipation of eroticism from both sexual reproduction and love - and setting it free to perform a variety of new tasks. A crucial one among these is the renegotiation of social relations inside the family and in public space, as well as new forms of identity building.