Modernism, globalisation & Postmodernism

Late modernity

Theories of late modernity argue that we are not in a new, postmodern era, but a continuation of modernity, key features of modernity have become intensified, e.g, social change.
Disembedding - Giddens; social relations have been lifted out of their local contexts of interaction, people no longer need face-to-face contact to communicate.
Reflexivity - Giddens; traditions no longer tells us how to act, so we constantly reflect on & modify our actions in light of what possible risks & opportunities it may involve.
Nothing is fixed/permanent & everything is up for challenge, accounting for the rapid & widespread nature of social change in high modernity, e.g, globalisation
Modernity & risk - Giddens; we face more high consequence risks, such as; nuclear war or instability of the capitalist economy, however, unlike postmodernists, he believes we can make rational plans to reduce these risks.
Risk society - Beck; manufactured risks cause 'risk consciousness', where we become aware of our risks & aim to reduce them, e.g, dieting.
Criticisms - Not everyone has the ability to reduce risks, e.g, the poor in polluted areas.
Rustin; capitalism & its persuit of profit is the source of risk.
Hirst; movements, such as environmentalism will not bring about change because they are too fragmented.

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Technological changes - Time has become compressed, due to global media communication & global travel the world has become a much smaller place.
Economic changes - The economy is now increasingly electronic, providing information. data, media, music, TV etc...Creating greater interconnectedness.
Companies are now global (TNCs), they earn more GDP than many nation states because global cultures have undermined national identities.
Political changes - Globalisation has undermined the power of the nation state, e.g, Kenichi Ohmae; we now live in a 'borderless world' in which TNCs and consumers have more economic power than national governments.
States are less able to regulate the activities of large capitalist enterprises, Lash & Urry; 'disorganised capitalism'.
Culture & identity - Makes it much harder for cultures to exist in isolation from one another, we live with global culture because of mass media & TNCs selling consumer goods to other countries.

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Advertising - Bauman & May; people are encouraged to buy into different lifestyle models, from which they can shape their personal identities and individuality, advertising provides 'do it yourself identity kits'.
Media - Braudrillard; we live in a media saturated society, constantly bombarded with images that provide us with our sense of identity. Baudrillard; we may reach simulacra(hyper-reality), where 'mediated reality' and 'lived reality' have become blurred, e.g, knowing more about the lives of celebrities than your neighbours.
Youth culture - Is a metanarrative because culture is so fragmented it is no longer possible to talk about one dominant, mainstream culture or lifestyle. Thornton; youth culture has been replaced by a media generated taste based club & music cultures. Bennet; they make consumer choices to identify themselves for a short time with a range of groups or tribes.
Family - There are multiple family types to choose from.
Gender - Identity has become blurred or liminal.

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Religion - There is a collapse in the monopoly of truth, fashion & trend have become more important to people than morals or values, people no longer turn to religion for comfort and help in times of trouble, instead they use therapists etc...
Culture - Has become hybradised because people identify with more than one culture due to images of global media.
Lyotard; society embraces the differences within in it, a person might listen to reggae, eat Mcdonald's for lunch, wear Paris perfume in Tokyo & retro clothes in Hong Kong.
Knowledge - There is a collapse in claiming the 'monopoly of truth', it is a social construction - something that powerful groups in society say we should know. People no longer hold trust in doctors, priests, science or technolog due to the manufactured dangers they create.
Surveillance - There is an increase in record keeping, CCTV, e.g, Ofsted or the role of doctors monitoring clients' actions so they can avoid ill health.
Postmodernists criticise all other theories for being 'metanarratives' and not recognising the diversity of society. Particularly Marxism because the collapse of the Soviet Union showed that communism was not the answer to society's problems.

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Marxism - Philo & Miller; ignores power & inequality, and how the media is used by the ruling class as a tool of mass domination.
The claim that we freely construct our identities through consumption overlooks the effect of poverty in restricting such opportunities.
By assuming all views are equally true it could be argued that people who deny the Holocaust are correct.
Best & Kneller; postmodernism is a weak theory because they don't explain how the features of a postmodern society came about.
Harvey; postmodernists reject the enlightenment theory, but knowledge & politics can be used to solve human problems.

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Marxists see postmodernity as arising due to the most recent stage of capitalism.
Flexible accumulation - Harvey; the use of IT, an expanded finance & service sector, job insecurity & the requirement for works to be 'flexible' to fit their employer's needs.
Allowing products to be created for small, niche markets, instead of standardised products for mass markets, they can easily switch from one product to producing another.
It reflects postmodernism because the production of customised products promotes cultural diversity & the easy switching of one product to another encourages constant shifts in fashion.
Jameson; postmodernity is a more developed form of capitalism because it commodifies all aspects of life, e.g, identities.
Harvey; it also leads to the compression of time & space, the globe has shrunk due to communication technologies, holidays etc...
Criticism - They seem to abandon the idea that there will be a revolution to otherthrow capitalism, because they believe postmodernism has fragmented political movements.

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