Theories Topic 4 : Modernity, Postmodernity and Late Modernity

Question 1

Key features of modernity (1700)

Answer 1

Industrialisation

CAGE = identity

Life is predictable - people have a clear idea of their social position

Societies are based on independent nation-states, national economies and national identities

One-way mass media

An optimistic view of science and technology could improve the natural world

Sociological theory could provide insight into improvements and explanations of the social world

Question 2

When do postmodernists argue the transition from modernity to postmodernity started

Answer 2

1980s

Question 3

Features that show a transition from modernity to postmodernity

Answer 3

New media

Globalisation + consumer culture - CAGE becomes irrelevant

Structures like the family, work etc. disintegrating

Old political parties seen as outdated + power of nation-states declining

New social movements focused on culture and identity

Decline of faith in science (COVID??) - seen as the problem rather than the solution

Question 4

Bauman - liquid modernity

Answer 4

Liquid modernity - Society is chaotic and constantly changing
= structures like the nation-state, family and social class are breaking down

AO2:
1950s = the family meant the nuclear family (heterosexual with kids)
2024 = family means LGBT, cohabiting partners, high rates of divorce / remarriage, lone parents, step families, Neo-conventional families etc.

Question 5

What are the 6 main components of postmodernism?

Answer 5

1. Globalisation
2. Metanarratives and the ‘Myth of Truth’
3. Choice, identity and consumption
4. Media-saturated society
5. Pick ‘n’ Mix identities
6. You are what you buy

Question 6

Feature of postmodernism - critique of metanarratives AO1 / AO2

Answer 6

Lyotard - PM is an ‘incredulity (disbelief) towards metanarratives’ and argued that people no longer believe in the ‘myth of truth’

Metanarratives are too general - too many social groups
(EG not everyone who is WC / MC are on the same economic level - you can’t generalise a heterosexual WC woman to a lesbian WC woman [INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM ARGUMENT])

Question 7

Feature of postmodernism - critique of metanarratives AO3

Answer 7

Strengths:
Challenges metanarratives - traditional theories are no longer applicable to explaining society due to the chaotic nature

Weaknesses:
Doesn’t offer a vision for improving society - it is all criticism

PM is a metanarrative too

Exaggerates scale of social change - nuclear family is still common, and people’s CAGE can still be a major influence

Question 8

Feature of postmodernism - globalisation AO1

Answer 8

Globalisation - the world is becoming more interconnected

People’s lives are no longer confined to local contexts - we are now influenced globally

Giddens calls this disembedding = use of internet through interactions and shopping
= TV, EU, McDonalds, tourism, immigration, music

THIS MEANS people now live through global means - rather than looking up to parents, people now look up to celebrities from around the world (link to pick ‘n’ mix)

This demonstrates the change from modernism to postmodernism

Question 9

Feature of postmodernism - globalisation AO2 (synoptic links)

Answer 9

Education:
Increasing global influence in the education system, EG PISA rankings and using methods of international education systems to develop teaching and learning

Families:
Ease of migration - families have become more diverse, many people living further from their extended families and changes to the nuclear family

Crime:
Pessimistic globalists - globalisation is happening but it is a negative feature of society
= globalisation is largely cultural imperialism which leads to a homogenous global society that destroys local cultures

New crimes have emerged due to globalisation - cyber crime, international drug trade

Question 10

Feature of postmodernism - globalisation AO3

Answer 10

Strengths:
Highlights important cultural changes such as the media, culture and identity

Provides insight into the most contemporary social changes such as globalisation and the growing power of media

Weaknesses:
Traditionalists - unconvinced that globalisation is really happening
= Harvey - many of the changes to a PM society can be explained by modernist theories like Marxism, EG globalisation, rapid culture change, individualisation of identity reflect capitalism opening up to new markets

Question 11

Feature of postmodernism - choice, identity and consumption AO1

Answer 11

Lyotard - PM societies are characterised by individualism (against functionalism)

Individual choices in education, personal relationships and consumer goods we buy

Baudrillard calls this ‘the end of the social’ - people now form their own identities to be whatever they want to be

PM society involves a media-saturated consumer culture - individuals can pick ‘n’ mix their identities and choices

Question 12

Feature of postmodernism - choice, identity and consumption AO2 (synoptic links)

Answer 12

Families:
Family diversity, pure relationship (Giddens), divorce extended family (Stacey)

Crime:
Media and crime - cultural criminologists (Hayward and Young) - the media commodifies crime + crime and deviance has now become a style to be consumed (through music, branding)

Question 13

Feature of postmodernism - choice, identity and consumption AO3

Answer 13

Strengths:
Construction of people’s identities are now fluid- pick ‘n’ mix based on consumer lifestyles + media. Cannot be reduced to simply a response to social structural factors

Weaknesses:
Too voluntaristic - ignores the role of powers in society and social inequalities

Exaggerates scale of cultural change - nuclear families still common, people’s CAGE is still a major influence

Question 14

Feature of postmodernism - pick ‘n’ mix AO1 + contemporary AO2

Answer 14

Baudrillard - life in a PM society involves the search for satisfaction of media-created desires

Identity no longer formed by CAGE, but by images and signs (designer branding)

Bauman - life in a PM society resembles a shopping mall where people can consume whatever they like (you are what you buy)

In a pick ‘n’ mix society, people can be whatever they want to be by adopting lifestyles / identities from around the world

AO2:
Nathan Oki:
Grew up in Peckham - his best friend was stabbed to death at age 15
He said mixing drill with Christian messages helps them reach troubled youths (pick ‘n’ mix different identities)

Question 15

Features of postmodernism - pick ‘n’ mix identities AO2 (synoptic links)

Answer 15

Families:
Family diversity, pure relationship (Giddens), divorce extended family (Stacey)

Crime:
Media and crime - cultural criminologists (Hayward and Young) - the media commodifies crime + crime and deviance has now become a style to be consumed (through music, branding)

Question 16

Features of postmodernism - pick ‘n’ mix identities AO3

Answer 16

Strengths:
Construction of people’s identities are now fluid- pick ‘n’ mix based on consumer lifestyles + media. Cannot be reduced to simply a response to social structural factors

Weaknesses:
Too voluntaristic - ignores the role of powers in society and social inequalities

Exaggerates scale of cultural change - nuclear families still common, people’s CAGE is still a major influence

Question 17

Features of postmodernism - media saturated society AO1

Answer 17

Mass media used to just reflect basic society - now distorts how we see the world

Baudrillard - media presents simulacra = images which appear to reflect events in the real world but have no basis in reality

Images of real events are so distorted from reality that they actually replace reality
= EG - scripted reality TV, unreality of the news - we can’t distinguish from Hollywood films

Baudrillard calls this ‘hyper reality’ - the media image of an event becomes more real than the reality it is meant to depict

Question 18

Features of postmodernism - media saturated society AO2 + AO2 synoptic link

Answer 18

AO2: AI

Synoptic link to crime:
Left realists (Lea and Young) - media saturated society causes people (esp WC) to feel relatively deprived, so will commit crime to adhere to consumerist lifestyle

Question 19

Features of postmodernism - media saturated society AO3

Answer 19

Strengths:
Construction of people’s identities are now fluid- pick ‘n’ mix based on consumer lifestyles + media. Cannot be reduced to simply a response to social structural factors

Weaknesses:
Too voluntaristic - ignores the role of powers in society and social inequalities

Exaggerates scale of cultural change - nuclear families still common, people’s CAGE is still a major influence

Question 20

One more weakness of postmodernist theory

Answer 20

Overemphasises the role of the media - people don’t do everything the media says, and aren’t as passive as suggested

Question 21

How does globalisation prove we are living in a PM society rather than a modern society

Answer 21

Globalisation was not a thing during the modern era. No travel / migration. We were very much ‘embedded’ into society during modern society

Question 22

How does choice, identity and consumption / pick ‘n’ mix prove we are living in a PM society rather than a modern society

Answer 22

People’s choices in the modern era were limited. Extended family was dominant, religion was crucial, there was a sense of collectivism rather than an emphasis on individualism

Question 23

How does media saturated society prove we are living in a PM society rather than a modern society

Answer 23

There was a one way mass media which did not distort reality

Question 24

3 main critical views of postmodernism

Answer 24

Giddens - late modernity and reflexivity

Beck - risk society and reflexive modernity

Harvey and Marxism

Question 25

Giddens - late modernity and reflexivity
Where does he agree/disagree with postmodernists

Answer 25

He agrees that society has changed due to globalisation and choice in identity

He agrees that there are no more traditional ways - we live in a risk society

HOWEVER - these changes are of modern society in an intensified form, not a new era of postmodernism
= instead he calls it late modernity

Therefore we should adapt traditional theories like functionalism and Marxism

Question 26

Giddens - late modernity and reflexivity

Answer 26

Late modernity is characterised by reflexivity (the knowledge we gain from society can affect the way we act)

Life is now full of risks (EG economic crises, climate change etc.) so now people have to think about their choices more
= reflexivity allows this to occur - gives people / institutions the ability to act rationally to improve the world
= this is an element of modernity, not postmodernity

Question 27

Beck - risk society + reflexive modernity

Answer 27

We are in a new phase of modernity - reflexive modernity
= there are high levels of uncertainty in a ‘risk society’

These risks occur daily / in our institutions (EG family - rising divorce / diversity)
Also shown in failings of science (climate change)

This is different to the past where stuff was out of our control - now man made
= but if we can create the problem, we can fix it (EG through science - PM don’t think we can fix)

Agrees with Giddens’ reflexivity - we need to change society through adapting traditional theories

Question 28

Harvey and Marxism

Answer 28

Many of the changes to a PM society can be explained by modernist theories like Marxism

EG globalisation, culture change, individualisation of identity reflects capitalism opening up to new markets

Therefore, PM isn’t a thing an instead, traditional theories can be used to explain society

Question 29

Overall arguments from the critiques of PM

Answer 29

Giddens, Beck and Harvey suggest there HAS been change and everyday life is breaking free from tradition - life is more fluid

But the distinction between modernity and postmodernity is exaggerated

What is called PM is just modernity developing, and the changes can be explained by adapting theories such as Marxism, or developing new theories such as Giddens and Beck