Modernism & Post Modernity

1. A2 Theory and
Methods
Modernity and Post-
Modernity

2. Modernity
Structure/security/place/stability
YOU KNEW WHO YOU WERE
Science aided
progress and finding
the truth
Nationhood
Overt social
control
A one-way
media
A role for
education
A belief in
continuity and
situation
Social
class
Family
Mass
Production
Community life

3. Postmodernism
Modern age has lost
the enlightenment
Search for
truth
People less
likely to
follow rigid
ideology
Greater pluralism
in modern life
No absolutes
Culture and
structures are
fragmented
Less predictable
Traditional labels
and categories
loose relevance
Consumerism
is all
Globalisation
has narrowed
time and
space
Transformation
of the self
(‘pick ‘n’ mix’)
Fragmentation
of social life
The impact of ICT
on social life
Confusion/lack of structure/
incessant choice
YOU CREATE WHO YOU WANT TO BE

4. Post-modernism illustrated – ‘reality
TV’ & ‘Disneyland’
Reality TV illustrates the interchange
between the consumer and the media
They are ‘real people’ who can be
observed and scrutinised.
They do not entertain – rather than
exist…they are a mish-mash of cctv
surveillance and game show
In the real world they are talentless
nobody's who are treated as stars
Disneyland is a simulacra. It is
simulated reality. It is artificial – yet
‘real’.
It is a place that exists and is
accepted because our imagination
makes it so.
The fine line between reality and
fantasy is ‘greyer’. The power of the
symbol over substance

5. Modernity & Globalisation
The Enlightenment Project
•Modernist theories e.g. Marxism are
part of the project- the idea that
through reason and science, we can
discover true knowledge and progress to
a better society

6. Find evidence of your own
contact with globalisation:
1.Look at the labels in your clothes/shoes and
find four different countries in which they
have been produced.
2.Identify four events in distant parts of the
world that you have seen on TV in the last
month.
3.Identify four global brand names you have
seen advertised in this country or, if
possible, seen in other countries.

7. Globalisation- growing interconnectedness
of societies
Occurring for several reasons:
1.Technological changes e.g. Internet/ air travel
2.Economic changes e.g. Growth of transnational
companies (TNC’s)
3.Political changes e.g. Fall of communism & growth of
transnational bodies have created opportunities for global
capitalism
4.Changes in culture and identity

8. Rapid changes linked to globalisation have
led to new questions:
•What kind of society do we now live in-
modern/ new postmodern society?
•What kind of theory can explain today’s
society?- postmodernism/new version of modernism?
•The Enlightenment project- can we
achieve true knowledge to improve
society?
Three theories offer answers: PM, theories of Late
modernity, Marxist theories of PM

9. What is PM?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqsP0vQJJ44&feature=related

10. Postmodernism
•We now live in a new era
•There are no objective criteria to prove
whether a theory is true therefore any
theory claiming to have the truth about how
to create a better society e.g. Marxism is a
meta narrative- someone’s version of reality.
They are no longer sufficient to make sense
of our changing world
•We should celebrate the diversity of views
rather than seek to impose one version of
the truth

11. •They do not accept the ideas of the
Enlightenment project- do not believe in the
power of Science to solve all social and
environmental problems.
•Media produces an endless stream of images,
making culture unstable and fragmented;
there is no longer a coherent set of shared
values. People cease to believe any one version
of the truth
•Identity becomes destabilised: we can change
it simply by changing our consumption
patterns, picking and mixing media-produced
images to define ourselves

12. What criticisms of PM are there?
Page 255

13. Theories of Late Modernity
•Unlike Postmodernism, theories of late modernity
(TLM) argue that today’s rapid changes are not
the dawn of a new postmodern era, but a
continuation of modern society.
•We are now in late or high modernity. Key
features of modernity have now become
intensified; e.g. change has always been typical of
modern society, but now it has gone into
overdrive.
•TLM subscribe to the Enlightenment project.

14. Giddens reflexivity and high
modernity
•High modernity has two key features that encourage
globalisation and rapid change:
•Disembedding – no longer need face to face contact in
order to interact. Disembedding breaks down geographical
barriers and make interaction more impersonal.
•Reflexivity: Tradition and custom no longer serve as a
guide to how we should act.
•We are thus forced to become reflexive – to reflect on
and modify our actions in the light of information about
risks.
•This means we are continually re-evaluating our ideas.
Under these conditions, cultures becomes increasingly
unstable.

15. •Disembedding and Reflexivity account
for rapid and widespread nature of
social change in high modernity
•By enabling social interaction to spread
rapidly across the globe, they help to
drive the process of globalisation

16. Beck: risk society
•We now face new high consequence risks, e.g.
environmental harm. Beck calls these
‘manufactured risks’ as they result from
technology, not nature.
•Like Giddens Beck sees late modernity as a
period of growing individualisation, in which
we become increasingly reflexive. Tradition no
longer governs how we act. As a result we
have to think for ourselves and reflect on the
possible consequences of our choice of action

17. Evaluate TLM pg 257

18. Marxist Theories of Post modernity
•Like Beck & Giddens (& unlike PM’s) they
believe in the Enlightenment project for
achieving objective knowledge and using it
to improve society
•However they agree with PM’s that we have
moved from modernity to postmodernity
•But do not see it as a new society but
merely the most recent stage of capitalism
•To understand modernity we must examine
its relationship with capitalism

19. Flexible accumulation
•Postmodernity arose out of the capitalist
crisis of the 1970’s (end of the economic
boom) which gave rise to a new way of
achieving profitability (Flexible accumulation)
•It involves the use of ICT, an expanded
service and finance sector, job insecurity and
working ‘flexibility’ to fit employers needs.
•It involves production of customised products
for ‘niche’ markets (rather than mass markets) and
brings many of the features of postmodernity

20. The features include:
•Customised products promote cultural diversity
•Easy switching of production from one product
to another
•Leisure, culture and identity become
commodities produced for profit
•Global finance markets and ICT produce
compression of time and space
•It brings about political changes, especially the
weakening of the WC movement. In its place, a
variety of oppositional movements emerge e.g.
feminism, environmentalism

21. Summary
•We have moved from modernity to
postmodernity however Marxist views
differ in two ways:
1.They retain a faith in Marxist theory as
a means of explaining these changes
2.They argue that the goal of
Enlightenment project- to change
society for better- can still be achieved