A worldwide movement encompassing all disciplines, postmodernism arose in response to the dominant idea of modernism, which is described as the social condition of living in an urban, fast-changing progressivist world governed by instrumental reason.
Postmodernism or postculturalism, a term often also used, offer a very different and much more radical version of constructivism. They are strongly opposed to the universalist premises of realism, liberalism, Marxism and post-Marxism, and are highly critical of the general phenomenon of the aforementioned modernity (Lawson, p. 145).
For clarity, we can look at postmodernism as a theory of society, culture and history and postculturalism as a theory of knowledge and language (Agger, 1991, p.
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“People go to war because of how they see, perceive, picture, imagine and speak of others: that is, how they construct the difference of others as well as the sameness of themselves through representations,” they argue.
Millions of people globally supported the ‘war on terror’ at one time, largely because the discourse around it was successful in divisively framing the identities involved and attributing a ‘truthful’ nature to that framing. Governments, with the Bush administration seemingly as the lead, created ‘the other’ to be ‘the terrorist’, and those ‘terrorists’ were probably Muslim or Arab. The fear was then created by the comparison of this ‘other’ to the self; or ‘them vs. us’.
Poststructuralist Michel Foucault argued that each society possesses a ‘regime of truth’, or a set of discourses, that are imposed upon and generally accepted by society at large. This notion again can be related back to the war on terror, and more recently can be observed in instances such as North Korea’s rhetoric around its ‘Dear Leader’ or communist China’s approach to and treatment of social media, in that is can be dangerous in influencing people’s opinions and behaviours.
A weakness of postmodernism, its central one according to critics, lies in its refusal to point out an alternative path for social life. Postmodernists assert that all aspects of social life are subject to the same dynamics so as such, there is
Postmodernism is a term which is highly contested in the sociological world, where it is used to indicate a significant detachment from modernism. It is easier to give the uses of the term; ‘to give a name to the present historical period, to name a specific style in arts and architecture and to name a point of rupture or disjuncture in epistemology’ (Buchanan, 2010). For this,
Jean-Francois Lyotard, in his essay, "The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge," defines postmodernism "as incredulity toward metannaratives (Lyotard, 71)." This works out to mean that the overarching metanarrative of the world, which is given to us by the ruling class if one subscribes to class theories, that forms our worldview has failed to fulfill our needs. The world is now seen as intersecting micronarratives; people can relate because their personal explanation of the world connects with another's explanation, but are recognizably individual because no two worldviews are identical. All micronarratives are equally valid in Lyotard's theories, and this fits in nicely with postmodernism's push towards inclusion rather than marginalization. This theory also pushes postmodernism into one of its other major facets, the breakdown of binary systems.
It is a reaction to the concept of modernism; a style or movement in the arts that aims to depart significantly from classical and traditional forms in the early 20th century. Postmodern lacks a precise definition, but share many aspects of modernism. They are fueled by post-industrialization, and driven by late capitalism. However, there are a few distinctions that make it quite deliberate from its predecessor. According to Fredric Jameson 's theory, the experience of an art is mediated by technology and/or capitalism so we no longer experience things as natural (Jameson 64).” In other words there are effects that create this erosion of high culture and low culture. In addition of devaluing historical contexts, while lacking an ideology because the focus on a surface image of the art. Furthermore, it refocuses on the individual rather than the singular subject. The basic concept of postmodernism is the refusal to think historically, and disdain for the thought of underlying reality as actuality. Overall postmodernism is broad, but very retrospective in terms of content, form and style within cinema. It is all about recycling materials in order to reproduce for the interest of the individual being rather than a singularity subject.
project for "any attempt at a postmodernist 'method' is contradictory (an impossible possibility)" (25). In one of the most
Exploring postmodernism as an agent for the change, from a social and political context, it
The aspects of postmodernism
Dr. De Le Torre explains in the lecture we could spend an entire quarter or a year studying the postmodern motif and only touch the surface. The term Postmodernist is hard to explain.
Postmodernism took place after the World War II, Lyotard explaines it like this The word postmodernism has a meaning by itself the word "post" means after combining with modernism it has a meanig of after modernism. However their isn't just one defination about it. Their is still many different ideas of what postmodern
Postmodernism refers to a broad term used to explain movements in philosophy, art, music and critical theory. Postmodernism is viewed as a reaction to the pioneering modernist movement. In literature and art, postmodernism responds against classical ideas. With respect to post-structuralism and structuralism, there is a great difference between postmodernism
The term postmodernism is applied to several disciplines which include architecture, art, literature, music, film, sociology, cultural and media studies, visual arts, philosophy, history. Communications and technology. The beginning of postmodernism is quite unclear, however, it emerged as an area of academic study in mid- 1980s. "Postmodernism" is an outcome of the deep changes in social and political life style in post-industrialized societies with an attitude to question the truth and authority put forth by such conditions. Critics have constantly been debating about the treatment of the prefix “post” in "postmodernism". According to some critics, the "post" designates a process of historical succession. For them,
To ask why are these writing postmodern, is to also ask what is “postmodern?” Postmodernism came about from the anger and betrayal from many instances around the world and the public grew a sense of conspiracy and distrust for the original establishments. This help breed the rejection of western culture, beliefs, and ideas but people will also reject what we call the norm and authority figures or anything found to have been false. This is why I know these writings are postmodern because they want people to question the norm, the status quo, and what people say is a way to live. This definitely is not anything that is straight forward or can be easily agreed upon, but put in a dialect were everyone has they own opinion. Since the day I went to class and the professor (Dr. Collins) would not tell us what she thought and the rest of us student were indifferent and ready to agree the stories through their own eyes and no one saw what I saw or felt the way I did about them, especially light boxes. The truth
"Answering the question: what is the postmodern?” by Jean-François Lyotard defines postmodernism as the death of the metanarrative, the explanations created for society for everything that happens. Metanarriatives are built to make sense out of
Contrary to the potentially misleading misnomer, postmodernism, rather than a continuation of modernist practice, represents more of a reaction it. It is important to recognize that there exists “two opposed moods or attitudes” (Barry 80) between modernism and postmodernism. As Barry states, “J. A. Cuddon’s entry in his Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory
Postmodernism is an approach that carries with it a wide variety of meanings, interpretations and phenomenons. It may refer to a concept, a practice, a life style, a new period etc. It is all permeating concept and has stretched in all directions across different borders, different debates, different disciplines and different discursive boundaries. Dick Hebdige gives a periodic list of the definitions of postmodernism in Hiding in the Light: On Images and Things.
Postmodernism was a reaction against the modernism philosophical values and assumptions. Although many agree that there is a thin line between modernism and postmodernism, postmodernism is not modernism. In modernism, scientific theories were used to determine what is true. However, postmodernism allows individuals to question the theories and not take them as facts (Duignan, 2014). While modernism emphasized on objectivism, postmodernism allows extensive subjectivism in all aspects of life.