It is difficult for Zygmunt Bauman to accept the prevailing view that sees culture as a mere phenomenon, "something like the icing on the cake," which attacks the "real" core of social life, the "structure." Instead, he perceives structure as a sediment of culture, as a solidification of the products of cultural activity.

Of course, this activity, the cultural act, never starts from scratch and is never completely free, as it depends on a given factor, individuals with their natural characteristics. Thus, culture is always the management of the existing.

Yet, the view that Zygmunt Bauman adopts considers reality to be a complement and product of human action. This is why the question regarding the autonomy of the supposed "cultural" (super)structure is misplaced. However, the author argues elsewhere: "Autonomous from what? Culture is a form of activity, a way of acting..." [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]