Postmodernism

Postmodernism

Postmodernist approaches have developed as a response to changes produced through globalisation. Simply, postmodern theories argue that there cannot be any overarching theoretical explanation of society as the idea of society exists as only a reassuring narrative. To understand society today, we need ot have a deep awareness of the role of the media in creating an image of society we seek to live out. One role of the media has been to make the process of globalisation possible, creating important consequences for the development of postmodern societies. 

  Globalisation involves a decline in the significance of time and space. David Harvey (1990) calls this "time-space compression", which involves communications speeding up so location has less significance. This leads to what Dominic Strinati (1995) calls "confusions over space and time". Through digital communications you can witness events that are taking place elsewhere. As a result, the sense of being grounded in a particular place and time can be lost for individuals, making it difficult to develop and sustain a single sense of identity or for places to retain a distinctive culture. With more information, people can mix together identites and tastes with greater hybridity.

   To postmodernists, these changes make it very difficult to believe a single sociological theory, as they see the world as too complicated and rapidly changing to reduce the understanding to a single theory. 

     Two key postmodernists are Baudrillard (1980) and Lyotard (1984). Lyoptard attacks grand theories such as Marxism and Functionalism as being merely big and elaborate stories that vie comfort to people by helping them believe there was a rational basis to society. According to postmodernists, sociological theory was simply a set of stories or narratives belonging to the period of mondernity. 

     Lyotard (1984) argues that economic expansion and growth and the scientific knowledge upon which theyh are based have no aim but to continue expanding. This expansion is outside the control of human beings as it is too complex and simply beyond our scope. To give ourselves sense of control, metanarratives are developed. He argues two things change in postmodern society: 1 - people develop "incredulity towards metanarratives" - they no longer believe a single theory can be used to understand the world, for example communism under Stalin in the USSR could not be explained by a single theory.  2- As a consequence, the search for some sort of ultimate truth is abandoned and replaced by 'technical language games', which are more about lookign for what works on a small scale as opposed to the truth. For example, people search for useful knowledge on how to develop new technology or reduce crime rates rather than for an all-embracing theory of how to perfect the world. 

      Baudrillard sees society as having entered a new and distinctive phase of postmodernity, However, he places more emphasis on the roll of the mass media in the process. Baudrilard notes that in contemporary society, the mass of the population expresses…