What Is Postmodernism Essay Research Paper In

What Is Postmodernism Essay, Research Paper

In trying to define exactly what post-modernism is I shall firstly briefly consider some of the events and thinking that led up to the development of this particular school of social theory. I shall then consider some of the common strands of thinking in postmodernism concentrating mainly on the writings of Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard. I shall then consider the view of David Harvey, a Marxist many consider to be writing in the postmodern tradition, who argues that post-modernism is just another form of capitalism. Having analysed his argument I shall conclude by giving my own personal view of post-modernism and by showing that by its very nature it is virtually impossible to come up with one single all encompassing definition.

The term postmodernism was first used in relation to architecture. Modern architecture, namely the high rise tower blocks of the sixties, were becoming more and more unpopular. Charles Jencks (1977) traces the death of modernist architecture to the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, and other writers (Lemert (1990)) have seen this as a symbol of the end of modernity. Society was reacting against modern architectural ideas having lost faith in the modern ideals. Although modern architecture might have been scientifically advanced using the latest and cheapest materials, people rejected it, preferring to return to a variety of styles from the past. Examples of this can be seen in the rejuvenation of the Albert Dock in Liverpool, and mock medieval squares.

Similarly in Sociology postmodernism rejects the theories of the past, and represents a break from the modern way of thinking. For example, Marx envisaged society evolving through social change into the perfect communist society, where there are no issues of class or general inequality. Postmodernists would refer to his theory, and those of other sociologists, as a metanarrative and writers such as Lyotard (1984) have seen the rejection of such theories as central to postmodernism:

Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodernism as incredulity to metanarratives

People have lost faith in the metanarratives of the past and Lyotard sees social life being organised around language games , which serve to justify people s behaviour in society. In these games a person endeavours to persuade others to accept his or her point of view as right or true with each statement being a move within these games.

Lyotard sees these games having evolved from the narrative, the telling of stories or legends, to the scientific, or denotative which became important during the enlightenment. Such scientific games relied upon evidence and argument to either prove or disprove them. As society enters the post-modern era faith is lost in the denotative language games and is replaced by technical language games. Truth is not the important factor any more, but whether or not an idea, or game , is useful. Knowledge becomes a commodity that is to be sold, and Lyotard sees it as possibly the most important commodities in what he calls:

the world-wide competition for power

Lyotard links the rise in the importance of knowledge to the rise in the use of computers in both society s commercial and social life. In my view there are few people who can dispute this fact. One only has to consider new media technologies and look at the rise in the use of the Internet to conclude that this is indeed the case. Bill Gates has become the richest business on the planet, and, to a certain degree, one could say that he does control knowledge , or at least people s access to it.

Another important aspect of the post-modern society is the diversity that exists within it. Even postmodernist theory is not a unified approach. Kellner (1990) argues that:

There is nothing like a unified post-modern social theory there is a plurality of different post-modern theories and positions

Lyotard (1984) sees society embracing the differences within it and uses culture as an example to illustrate his point:

one listens to reggae, watches a western, eats McDonald s food for lunch and local cuisine for dinner, wears Paris perfume in Tokyo and retro clothes in Hong Kong

Sociology has considered in the past that there is a certain commonality to the way societies function. In history for example it is assumed that human beings are in some ways the same as we are today, that people from different cultures are similar to our own. Such a view enables us to study past events and pass some form of judgement over them. In doing this however sociology is denying the individuality of human beings. History is drastically different from the past, and our culture is drastically different from that of others. Once again, if we accept this as the case, this leads us to reject many previous social theories. Ritzer (1992) describes postmodernism as

a celebration of a range of different theoretical perspectives

He goes on to state that postmodernism has a tendency to break down the boundaries between disciplines and sub disciplines creating a new approach encompassing ideas from a whole range of areas.

Whilst Lyotard embraces this diversity seeing it as giving individuals more choice and ultimately more freedom, other writers, such as Baudrillard, paint a much more de