Postmodernism Flashcards
What changes do they attempt to explain?
Technologies
Environmental concerns
Individualisation
What are the two approaches to explaining the changes?
Modernist Theories: we life in a modern society, these changes are simply an intensification of existing features in modern society - these theories are part of the enlightenment project (use rational/scientific thought to improve society)
Postmodernist Theories: social change since the 1970s is so significant that it shows how we have entered a new type of era (postmodern era)
What are the features of a modern society?
Nation state Capitalist economy Rationality, Science and Technology Individualism Structural inequalities still exist
What to Postmodernists not believe in?
One grand theory or meta-narrative anymore
What does Postmodernist Baudrillard argue?
Culture, the zeitgeist (the spirit of the age) is what constitutes reality for most people in postmodern society - the examination of culture rather than structure should be the focus of sociology
What is the Postmodern world characterised by?
Diversity and Flux - we live in an era where anything goes, all styles and fashions are acceptable and the old certainties have disappeared
What is different about a postmodern society?
No longer have a set of ideas and values which control behaviour - we can pick and choose what ever we want to wear, do and how we present ourselves
What are the features of a Postmodern society?
GLOBALISATION: technological changes (time-space compression) economic changes (global electronic economy) political changes (states less able to regulate TNCs) changes in culture and identity (global culture - influenced by western owned media)
How do theories of late modernity explain the changes in society?
These rapid changes are not the product of a new era - but are a continuation of the modern period
Features of modernity are simply becoming intensified
Giddens - we are at a stage of late modernity
Modern society goes through rapid social change (often on a global scale)
What does Giddens argue about late modern society?
Tradition and custom are much less important - and no longer serve as a guide about how to act - we are very individualistic
What happens when tradition no longer tells us how to act?
We are forced to become reflexive
We are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating our behaviour
Nothing is fixed or permanent
Culture becomes less certain and subject to change
What does Beck argue about todays late modern society?
It is a risk society which faces new dangers
These new dangers are manufactured risks created by human activities (nuclear war, global warming)
Risk consciousness has become central to our culture - we constantly take account of risks and try to avoid them
Why does Beck not reject the enlightenment project?
They are that even though scientific progress has brought manufactured risks, we can still use rational thought to over come them
e.g. the development of environmentalist movements have influenced scientific developments in a positive way
What is a strength of theories of late modernity?
Take an optimistic view by arguing that a rational analysis of a society can lead to improving the society we live in and we can reduce the potential harm we do and inequalities still exists
What is a weakness of theories of late modernity?
The idea of reflexivity suggests that we reflect upon our actions and are free to reduce risks and shape out lives
However, not everyone was this option (not everyone exposed to environmental risks can move, including people in disadvantaged positions in society)
What would Postmodernists say about society? What does Baudrillard relate this too?
Society is entering a new and distinctive phase
Language and knowledge
What does Braudrillard say that contradicts Marxism?
We have moved away from the capitalist notion of buying and selling goods to one of buying and selling signs and images, which have little relation to material reality
Advertising is big business where images sell products
What does Baudrillard argue about contemporary society?
People do not distinguish between image and reality
Attaches special importance to the mass media - in TV, reality has become virtual and is distorted
We live in an unstable/fragmented media saturated global village - we define ourselves by what be consume rather than by class, ethnicity etc.
What is Anti-Foundationalism?
There are no foundations to knowledge, including scientific knowledge
We cannot ever know if a theory is really accurate or not, we cannot be completely sure of anything
What does the media create?
a Hyper-Reality
Culture becomes fragmented and unstable as the media produce an endless stream of ever changing images, values and versions of the truth
Confronted by so many versions of the truth, people lose faith in meta-narratives
What is a strength of Postmodernism?
It makes some useful observations about the importance of the media culture and identity in society
Why does Philo and Miller criticise Postmodernism?
Fail to take into account who has power in society - the ruling class own the media for instance and can decide what images to display People are not stupid - they know the difference between fiction and reality It is not true to say that anything goes, we are at least in part ruled by structure and we cannot entirely say what we want The idea of pick and mix consumption patterns ignores poverty in restricting the opportunity to do this
What do Marxists such as Jameson and Harvey argue?
Society has moved from modernity to postmodernity
However, rather than seeing postmodernity as a fundamental break with the past, they regard it as the most recent stage of capitalism
Leisure, culture and identity have become commodities, and increase capitalist products
What do Marxists argue Postmodernity represents?
A more developed form of capitalism because it turns almost all aspects of life into a commodity
