Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used to describe the social and cultural implications of postmodernism. The term is used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century life. These features include globalization, consumerism, the fragmentation of authority, and the commoditization of knowledge (see "Modernity"). Postmodern philosophy is an eclectic and elusive movement characterized by its criticism of Western philosophy. ... Piazza dItalia by Charles Willard Moore, New Orleans. ... Libeskinds Imperial War Museum North in Manchester comprises three apparently intersecting curved volumes. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Postmodernist film describes the ideas of postmodernism in film. ... Postmodern music is both a musical style and a musical condition. ... In the humanities and social sciences, critical theory has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism. ... A KFC franchise in Kuwait. ... For other uses, see Minimalism (disambiguation). ... Minimalist music is a genre of experimental music named in the 1960s which displays some or all of the following features: emphasis on consonant harmony, if not functional tonality; reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells, with subtle, gradual, and/or infrequent variation (no... Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption. ... Andy Warhols iconic Marilyn Monroe Postmodernism is an idea that has been extremely controversial and difficult to define among scholars, intellectuals, and historians, because the term implies to many that the modern historical period has passed. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... The 21st century is the present century of the Gregorian calendar. ... A KFC franchise in Kuwait. ... Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption. ... Commoditization is a term from both economics and the social sciences which is used to describe the process by which a good becomes saleable in the market. ... Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ...

Postmodernism and postmodernity

There are multiple positions on the differences between postmodernity and postmodernism.^{[citation needed]} Andy Warhols iconic Marilyn Monroe Postmodernism is an idea that has been extremely controversial and difficult to define among scholars, intellectuals, and historians, because the term implies to many that the modern historical period has passed. ...

One position says that postmodernity is a condition or state of being, or is concerned with changes to institutions and conditions (Giddens 1990) - whereas postmodernism is an aesthetic, literary, political or social philosophy. Postmodernism is the "cultural and intellectual phenomena" while postmodernity is focused on social and political outworkings in society. Anthony Giddens in 2000. ... Andy Warhols iconic Marilyn Monroe Postmodernism is an idea that has been extremely controversial and difficult to define among scholars, intellectuals, and historians, because the term implies to many that the modern historical period has passed. ...

Uses of the term

The term postmodernity is used in a number of ways. Most generally, postmodernity is the state or condition of being postmodern (i.e., after or in reaction to what is modern), particularly in reference to postmodern art and postmodern architecture. In philosophy and critical theory, postmodernity more specifically refers to the state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity. A related term is postmodernism, which refers to movements, philosophies or responses to the state of postmodernity, or in reaction to modernism. Postmodern art (sometimes called po-mo) is a term used to describe art which is thought to be after or in contradiction to some aspect of modernism. ... Piazza dItalia by Charles Willard Moore, New Orleans. ... Socrates (central bare-chested figure) about to drink hemlock as mandated by the court. ... In the humanities and social sciences, critical theory has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism. ... Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ... Andy Warhols iconic Marilyn Monroe Postmodernism is an idea that has been extremely controversial and difficult to define among scholars, intellectuals, and historians, because the term implies to many that the modern historical period has passed. ... Modernism is a trend of thought which affirms the power of human beings to make, improve, deconstruct and reshape their built and designed environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. ...

Most theorists of postmodernity view it as a historical condition that marks the reasons for the end of modernity, which is defined as a period or condition loosely identified with the Industrial Revolution, or the Enlightenment. One "project" of modernity is said to have been the fostering of progress, which was thought to be achievable by incorporating principles of rationality and hierarchy into aspects of public and artistic life. (see also post-industrial, Information Age). This usage is ascribed to the philosophers Jean-François Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard. Lyotard understood modernity as a cultural condition characterized by constant change in the pursuit of progress, and postmodernity to represent the culmination of this process, where constant change has become a status quo and the notion of progress, obsolete. Following Ludwig Wittgenstein's critique of the possibility of absolute and total knowledge, Lyotard also further argued that the various metanarratives of progress - such as positivist science, Marxism, and structuralism - were defunct as methods of achieving progress. Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ... A Watt steam engine in Madrid. ... ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A hierarchy (in Greek: , it is derived from -hieros, sacred, and -arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is subordinate to a single other element. ... A post-industrial society is a proposed name for an economy that has undergone a specific series of changes in structure after a process of industrialization. ... It has been suggested that Digital Age be merged into this article or section. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Jean Baudrillard (born June 20, 1929) (IPA pronunciation: ) is a cultural theorist, philosopher, political commentator, sociologist and photographer. ... Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ... Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (IPA: ) (April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who contributed several ground-breaking works to contemporary philosophy, primarily on the foundations of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind. ... In critical theory, and particularly postmodernism, a metanarrative (sometimes master- or grand narrative) is a global or totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge and experience (Stephens 1998, p. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and to the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... Structuralism is best known as a theory in the humanities. ...

The literary critic Fredric Jameson and the geographer David Harvey have identified post-modernity with "late capitalism" or "flexible accumulation;" that is, the stage of capitalism following finance capitalism. This stage of capitalism is characterized by a high degree of mobility of labor and capital, and what Harvey called "time and space compression." They suggest that this coincides with the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system which they believe defined the economic order following the Second World War. (See also Consumerism, Critical theory) Fredric Jameson (b. ... David Harvey, 1990s David Harvey (b. ... Late capitalism is a term sometimes used to refer to capitalism of the late 20th century. ... Financial capital, or economic capital, is any liquid medium or mechanism that represents wealth, or other styles of capital. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption. ... In the humanities and social sciences, critical theory has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism. ...

Many philosophers, particularly those seeing themselves as being within the modern project, use post-modernity with the reverse implication: the presumed results of holding post-modernist ideas. Most prominently this includes Jürgen Habermas and others who contend that post-modernity represents a resurgence of long running counter-enlightenment ideas. Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (born June 18, 1929 in Düsseldorf) is a German philosopher, political scientist and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory, best known for his concept of the public sphere. ... Francisco de Goya, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (1799): the artists exhausted and feverish doze A term widely used in the second half of the twentieth century to refer to a movement that arose in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries in opposition to the eighteenth century...

Sydney Opera House

"Post-modernity" is also used to demark a period in architecture beginning in the 1950's in response to the International Style, or an artistic period characterized by the abandonment of strong divisions of genre, "high" and "low" art, and the emergence of the global village. Postmodernity is said to be marked by the re-emergence of surface ornament, reference to surrounding buildings in urban architecture, historical reference in decorative forms, non-orthogonal angles such as the Sydney Opera House and the buildings of Frank Gehry. Sydney Opera House, clearly showing the outline of its sails File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Sydney Opera House, clearly showing the outline of its sails File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... International style can refer to International style in ballroom dancing - see ballroom dance; International style in architecture - see international style. ... Look up genre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Global village is a term coined by Wyndham Lewis in his book America and Cosmic Man (1948). ... Internationally, the Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognised symbols of Sydney Sydney Opera House at Night The Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ... Frank Owen Gehry, (born Ephraim Owen Goldberg in Toronto, Ontario on February 28, 1929) is a Pritzker Prize winning architect based in Los Angeles, California. ...

For some of its critics, "post modernism" is simply cynical belief, the dissolution of cause and effect, the absence of order.

Descriptions

Philosophy and critical theory

The relationship between "postmodernity" and critical theory, sociology and philosophy is fiercely contested. This debate has two distinct elements that are often confused: (1) the nature of contemporary society and (2) the nature of the critique of contemporary society.

The first of these debates is concerned with accounting for the changes that have taken place between the past 25 and 50 years. There are broadly three principal camps. First, theorists such as Callinicos (1991) and Calhoun (1995) offer a conservative position on the nature of contemporary society underplaying the significance and extent of socio-economic changes emphasising a continuity with the past. Second, is a range of theorists who have tried to theorise the present as a significant development of the modern project into a second phase that is distinct from the first but modernity nevertheless. This has been termed the "second" or "risk" society by Ulrich Beck (1986), "late" or "high" modernity by Giddens (1990, 1991), "liquid" modernity by Zygmunt Bauman (2000), and the "network" society by Castells (1996, 1997). Third, are those theorists who argue that contemporary society has moved into a phase distinct from modernity, an era literally "post" modernity. The most prominent proponents of this position is Lyotard and Baudrillard. Alex Callinicos Alex Callinicos (born 1950 in South Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)) is a Marxist intellectual and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. ... Ulrich Beck Dr. Ulrich Beck (b. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Zygmunt Bauman (born 1925 in Poznan, Poland) is a British sociologist of Polish-Jewish descent. ... Castells are human towers that are traditionally built during festivals in many places in Catalonia, Spain. ... Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998) was a French philosopher and literary theorist. ... Jean Baudrillard (born 1929) is a cultural theorist and philosopher. ...

The second group, often confused with the first, tackles another set of issues altogether concerning the nature of critique. These debates are often a replaying of debates over (what can be crudely termed) universalism and relativism, where modernism is seen to represent the former and postmodernism the latter.

A sophistocated rendition of this debate can be found between Seyla Benhabib (1995) and Judith Butler (1995) in relation to feminist politics. Benhabib argues that postmodern critique comprises three main elements: an anti-foundationalist conception of the subject and identity, the death of History (and notions of teleology and progress), and the death of Metaphysics defined as the search for objective Truth - which can all have strong and weak variations. Benhabib argues forcefully against these positions as she holds that they undermine the basises from which a feminist politics can be founded as strong versions of postmodernism remove the possibility for agency, sense of self-hood, and the appropriation of women’s history in the name of an emancipated future. The denial of normative ideals removes the possibility for utopia, central for ethical thinking and democratic action. Image:J Butler. ...

Butler responds to Benhabib by arguing that her use of "postmodernism" is an expression of a wider paranoia over anti-foundationalist philosophy, in particular, poststructuralism. Post-structuralism is a body of work that followed in the wake of structuralism, and sought to understand the Western world as a network of structures, as in structuralism, but in which such structures are ordered primarily by local, shifting differences (as in deconstruction) rather than grand binary oppositions and...

“A number of positions are ascribed to postmodernism - Discourse is all there is, as if discourse were some kind of monistic stuff out of which all things are composed; the subject is dead, I can never say “I” again; there is no reality, only representation. These characterizations are variously imputed to postmodernism or poststructuralism, which are conflated with each other and sometimes conflated with deconstruction, and understood as an indiscriminate assemblage of French feminism, deconstruction, Lacanian psychoanalysis, Foucauldian analysis, Rorty’s conversationalism, and cultural studies ... In reality, these movements are opposed: Lacanian psychoanalysis in France positions itself officially against poststructuralism, that Foucauldian rarely relate to Derridideans ... Lyotard champions the term, but he cannot be made into the example of what all the rest of the purported postmodernists are doing. Lyotard’s work is, for instance, seriously at odds with that of Derrida”

Butler uses this debate over the definition of "postmodernism" to demonstrate how philosophy is implicated in power relationships. She defends poststructuralist critique by arguing that the critique of the subject is not the end but the beginning of analysis as the questioning of accepted "universal" and "objective" norms is the first task of enquiry.

There is no simple definition of a postmodern theorists as the very definition of postmodernity itself is contested, as the Benhabib-Butler debate demonstrates. For example, Michel Foucault rejected the label of postmodernism explicitly in interviews, but is seen by many, such as Benhabib, to advocate a form of critique that is "postmodern" as it breaks with the utopian and transcendental nature of "modern" critique by calling universal norms of the Enlightenment into question. Giddens (1990) rejects this characterisation of modern critique by pointing out that a critique of Enlightenment universals were central philosophers of the modern period, most notably Nietzsche. The debates continue. Michel Foucault (IPA pronunciation: ; English-speakers pronunciation varies) (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984) was a French philosopher and historian. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Another prominent position in philosophy is generally associated with modern critical theory, particularly with Jürgen Habermas. It argues that the modern project is not finished, and that universality cannot be so lightly dispensed with. In general, the use of the term in this context argues that postmodernity is a consequence of holding postmodern ideas. It is generally a negative term in this context. Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (born June 18, 1929 in Düsseldorf) is a German philosopher, political scientist and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory, best known for his concept of the public sphere. ...

Traits

Jameson highlights a number of phenomena which he views as distinguishing postmodernism from modernism. The first is "a new kind of superficiality" or "depthlessness", in which models which once explained people and things in terms of an "inside" and an "outside" (such as hermeneutics, the dialectic, Freudian repression, the existentialist distinction between authenticity and inauthenticity, and the semiotic distinction of signifier and signified) have been rejected. Hermeneutics may be described as the development and study of theories of the interpretation and understanding of texts. ... In classical philosophy, dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is an exchange of propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses) resulting in a synthesis of the opposing assertions, or at least a qualitative transformation in the direction of the dialogue. ... Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ... A repressed memory, according to some theories of psychology, a memory (often traumatic) of an event or environment which is stored by the unconscious mind but outside the awareness of the conscious mind. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement emphasizing individualism, individual freedom, and subjectivity. ... Semiotics (also spelled Semeiotics) is the study of signs and sign systems. ...

Second is a rejection of the modernist "Utopian gesture", evident in Van Gogh, of the transformation through art of misery into beauty, whereas in postmodernism the object world has undergone a "fundamental mutation", has "now become a set of texts or simulacra" (Jameson 1993:38). Left panel (The Earthly Paradise, Garden of Eden), from Hieronymus Boschs The Garden of Earthly Delights. ... A simulacrum is a Latin word originally meaning a material object representing something (such as an idol representing a deity, or a painted still-life of a bowl of fruit). ...

Whereas modernist art sought to redeem and sacralize the world, to give life to world, (we might say, following Graff, to give the world back the enchantment that science and the decline of religion had taken away from it), postmodernist art bestows upon the world a "deathly quality… whose glacéd X-ray elegance mortifies the reified eye of the viewer in a way that would seem to have nothing to do with death or the death obsession or the death anxiety on the level of content" (ibid.).

Graff identifies the origins of this transformative mission of art in the attempted substitution of art for the social role of religion as giving meaning to the world. Art was supposed to re-imbue the world with the meaning, which the rise of science and Enlightenment rationality had removed. However, in the postmodern period this task is finally revealed as a futile one. The Age of Enlightenment (from the German word Aufklärung, meaning Enlightenment) refers to either the eighteenth century in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the seventeenth century and the Age of Reason. ...

Thirdly, Jameson identifies a feature of the postmodern age as the "waning of affect". He notes that not all emotion has disappeared from the postmodernist age, but that it lacks a particular kind of emotion such as that found in "Rimbaud's magical flowers 'that look back at you'". He notes that "pastiche eclipses parody," as "the increasing unavailability of the personal style" leads to pastiche becoming a universal practice. Rimbaud can refer to: Arthur Rimbaud, 19th century poet and literary figure Penny Rimbaud, founder and drummer of the anarchist punk rock band Crass This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Parody of Back to the Future In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ...

Jameson argues that distance "has been abolished in the new space of postmodernism. We are submerged in its henceforth filled and suffused volumes to the point where our now postmodern bodies are bereft of spatial co-ordinates". This "new global space" constitutes postmodernism's "moment of truth". The various other features of the postmodern which he identifies "can all now be seen as themselves partial (yet constitutive) aspects of the same general spatial object"

To Jameson, the postmodern era has seen a change in the social function of culture. He identifies culture in the modern age as having a property of "semi-autonomy", its "existence… above the practical world of the existent". But in the postmodern age, culture has been deprived of the autonomous status it once possessed. Rather, the cultural has expanded, to consume the entire social realm, such that it all becomes cultural.

In the Postmodern age, "critical distance" has become outmoded. This is the assumption that culture can be positioned outside "the massive Being of capital", upon which left-wing theories of cultural politics are dependent. Jameson argues that "the prodigious new expansion of multinational capital ends up penetrating and colonizing those very pre-capitalist enclaves (Nature and the Unconscious) which offered extraterritorial and Archimedean footholds for critical effectivity". (Jameson 1993:54) In politics, a capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of capital) is the principal city or town associated with a countrys government. ... Archimedean refers to a thing named after the Greek mathematician Archimedes. ...

Social sciences

In a sociological context postmodernity can be said to focus on the conditions of life which became increasingly prevalent in the late 20th century in the most industrialized nations. These include the ubiquity of mass media and mass production, the unification into national economies of all aspects of production, the rise of global economic arrangements, and shift from manufacturing to service economies. Variously described as consumerism or, in a Marxian framework as late capitalism: namely a context where manufacturing, distribution and dissemination have become exceptionally inexpensive, but social connection and community have become more expensive. Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments. ... Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption. ... Marxian economics refers to a body of economic thought stemming from the work of Karl Marx. ... Late capitalism is a term sometimes used to refer to capitalism of the late 20th century. ...

The sociological view of postmodernity as a condition ascribes it to more rapid transportation, wider communication and the ability to abandon standardization of mass production, leading to a system which values a wider range of capital than previously, and allows value to be stored in a greater variety of forms. David Harvey argues that the condition of post-modernity is the escape from "Fordism", a term coined in reference to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Brave New World is a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1932. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...

Artifacts of postmodernity include the dominance of television and popular culture, the wide accessibility of information and mass telecommunications. Postmodernity also exhibits a greater resistance to making sacrifices in the name of progress, including such features as environmentalism and the growing importance of the anti-war movement. Postmodernity in the industrialised core is marked by increasing focus on civil rights and equal opportunity, as seen by such movements as feminism and multi-culturalism, as well as the backlash against these movements. Popular culture, or pop culture, (literally: the culture of the people) consists of widespread cultural elements in any given society. ... The historic Blue Marble photograph, which helped bring environmentalism to the public eye. ... Anti war protest in Melbourne, Australia, 2003 Anti_war is a name that is widely adopted by any social movement or person that seeks to end or oppose a future or current war. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... Equal opportunity is a descriptive term for an approach intended to provide a certain social environment in which ensure people are not excluded from the activities of society, such as education, employment, or health care, on the basis of immutable traits. ... Feminism is a collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies largely motivated by or concerned with the liberation of women. ... Multiculturalism or cultural pluralism is a policy, ideal, or reality that emphasizes the unique characteristics of different cultures in the world, especially as they relate to one another in immigrant receiving nations. ...

Theorists such as Michel Maffesoli believe that post-modernity is corroding the circumstances that provide for its subsistence and this will eventually result in a decline of individualism and the birth of a new neo-Tribal era. Neo-Tribalism is the ideology that human beings have evolved to live in a tribal, as opposed to a modern, society, and thus cannot achieve genuine happiness until some semblance of archaic lifestyles has been re-created or re-embraced. ...

As a stylistic approach

Main Article Postmodern architecture Piazza dItalia by Charles Willard Moore, New Orleans. ...

The term "post-modernity" is used, particularly in architecture and literature, to denote a stylistic approach to forms and use, with origins in the 1950's and continuing through the present. 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

General usage

In a general sense, postmodernity is the state or response to a society which has evolved from modernity. It can mean the personal response to a post-modern society, the conditions in a society which make it post-modern or the state of being that is associated with a post-modern society. In most contexts, postmodernity should not be confused with post-modernism, which is the self-conscious adoption of post-modern traits in art, literature and society. Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ...

History

Postmodernity has been said to have gone through two relatively distinct phases: the first phase beginning in the 1950's and running through the end of the Cold War, where analog dissemination of information produced sharp limits on the width of channels, and encouraged a few authoritative media channels, and the second beginning with the explosion of cable television, internetworking and the end of the Cold War and the expansion of "new media" based on digital means of information dissemination and broadcast. The Cold War was the period of protracted conflict and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies from the late 1940s until the late 1980s. ... A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), especially those representable as binary numbers, or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous spectrum of values (ie, as in an analog system). ...

The first phase of postmodernity overlaps the end of modernity and is regarded by many as being part of the modern period (see lumpers/splitters, periodization). In this period there was the rise of television as the primary news source, the decreasing importance of manufacturing in the economies of Western Europe and the United States, the increase of trade volumes within the developed core. In 1967-1969 a crucial cultural explosion took place within the developed world as the baby boom generation, which had grown up with postmodernity as their fundamental experience of society, demanded entrance into the political, cultural and educational power structure. A series of demonstrations and acts of rebellion - ranging from nonviolent and cultural, through violent acts of terrorism - represented the opposition of the young to the policies and perspectives of the previous age. Central to this was opposition to the Algerian War and the Vietnam War; to laws allowing or encouraging racial segregation; and to laws which overtly discriminated against women, and restricted access to divorce. The era was marked by an upswing in visible use of marijuana and hallucinogens and the emergence of pop cultural styles of music and drama, including rock music. The ubiquity of stereo, television and radio helped make these changes visible to the broader cultural context. Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ... Lumping and splitting refers to a well known problem in any discipline which has to place individual examples into rigorously defined catagories. ... Periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks. ... A baby boom is any period of greatly increased birth rate within temporal and usually geographical bounds. ... The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists in Algeria and the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) and other pro-independence Algerians. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... It has been suggested that Divorcee be merged into this article or section. ... A Cannabis sativa plant The drug cannabis, also called marijuana, is produced from parts of the cannabis plant, primarily the cured flowers and gathered trichomes of the female plant. ... Hallucinogenic drugs or hallucinogens are drugs that can alter sensory perceptions, elicit alternate states of consciousness, or cause hallucinations. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is a solar observation mission which was launched on 26 October 2006 at 00:52 GMT.[1] Two identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to (respectively) pull further ahead and fall gradually behind the earth. ...

This period is associated with the work of Marshall McLuhan, a philosopher who focused on the results of living in a media culture, and argued that participation in a mass media culture both overshadows actual content disseminated, and is liberating because it loosens the ability of local social normative standards. McLuhan redirects here. ...

The second phase of postmodernity is visible by the increasing power of personal and digital means of communication, including fax machines, modems, cable, and eventually high speed internet. This led to the creation of the new economy, whose supporters argued that the dramatic fall in information costs would alter society fundamentally. The simplest demarcation point is the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the liberalisation of China. For a period of time it was believed that this change ended the need for an overarching social order, which was called "The End of History" by Francis Fukuyama. However, such predictions, in light of subsequent events, now are seen by many as extremely naive. Internetworking in particular has altered the condition of postmodernity dramatically: digital production of information allows individuals to manipulate virtually every aspect of the media environment, from the source code of their computers, to the wikipedia project itself. This condition of digitality has brought producers of content in conflict with consumers over intellectual capital and intellectual property. A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), especially those representable as binary numbers, or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous spectrum of values (ie, as in an analog system). ... The New Economy is a term that was coined in late 1990s to describe the evolution of the United States and other rich countries from an industrial/manufacturing-based economy into a high technology-based economy, arising largely from new developments in the technology sector. ... Francis Fukuyama (born October 27, 1952 in Chicago) is an influential American philosopher, political economist and author. ... Source code (commonly just source or code) is any series of statements written in some human-readable computer programming language. ... Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia project. ... Digitality is used to mean the condition of living in a digital culture, derived from Nicholas Negropontes book Being Digital in analogy with modernity and post-modernity. ... Content can mean Comfort and a feeling of satisfaction Creations, as in open content or free content. ... Intellectual capital makes an organization worth more than its balance sheet value. ... In law, intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain types of information, ideas, or other intangibles in their expressed form. ...

In the 1990's a debate grew as to whether the present was a "high modernity" or whether postmodernity should be regarded separately. In general those who believe that postmodernity is a separate condition acknowledge a transition where postmodernity, sometimes hyphenated, is an extension of modernity.

In this period it began to be argued that digitality, or what Esther Dyson referred to as "being digital", had emerged as a separate condition from post-modernity. Those holding this position argued that the ability to manipulate items of popular culture, the world wide web, the use of search engines to index knowledge, and telecommunications were producing a "convergence", which would be marked by the rise of "participatory culture" in the words of Henry Jenkins and the use of media appliances, such as Apple's iPod. Digitality is used to mean the condition of living in a digital culture, derived from Nicholas Negropontes book Being Digital in analogy with modernity and post-modernity. ... Esther Dyson (born 14 July 1951) is the daughter of Freeman Dyson and a noted consultant and philosopher in the field of emerging digital technology. ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... Henry Jenkins (born June 4, 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia) American Scholar, currently Ann Fetter Friedlaender Professor of Humanities and Director of MIT Comparative Media Studies. ... The current iPod line. ...

Criticisms

Criticisms of the post-modern condition can broadly be put into four categories: criticisms of post-modernity from the perspective of those who reject modernism and its offshoots, criticisms from supporters of modernism who believe that post-modernity lacks crucial characteristics of the modern project, critics from within post-modernity who seek reform or change based on their understanding of post-modernism, and those who believe that post-modernity is a passing, and not a growing, phase in social organization. Modernism is a trend of thought which affirms the power of human beings to make, improve, deconstruct and reshape their built and designed environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. ... Modernism is a trend of thought which affirms the power of human beings to make, improve, deconstruct and reshape their built and designed environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ...

Anti-modernity critiques

Many philosophical movements reject both modernity and post-modernity as healthy states of being. Some of these are associated with cultural conservatism, and with some branches of Christian theology. In this view post-modernity is seen as a rejection of basic spiritual or natural truths, and the emphasis on material and physical pleasure is explicitly a rejection of inner balance and spirituality. Conservatism is a political philosophy that usually favors traditional values and strong foreign defense. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Theology (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason) means reasoned discourse concerning religion, spirituality and God. ...

Many of these critiques attack, specifically, the perceived "abandonment of objective truth" as being the crucial unacceptable feature of the post-modern condition, often with the aim of offering a metanarrative that provides exactly this truth.

However, these critiques sometimes result not from a faith in traditional authority but rather from a reasonable belief in the disjunction that objective knowledge must be either obtainable in all domains, or obtainable in no domain. Then from the fact that such domains as physics and chemistry are not seriously taken to be subjective or relative in any meaningful sense by most of post-modernity; it follows that ethics, politics, and the good life in general are not relative or subjective either. This view has been mentioned by Allan Bloom, among others. Allan Blooms translation and interpretation, Second edition 1991. ...

Modernist critiques

Critic Timothy Bewes called Post-Modernity "an historical blip", a "cynical reaction" against the Enlightenment, and against the progress of the modern project. This viewpoint, that features attributed to post-modernity, including consumerism, are "kitsch" and a turning away from fundamental deep structure and uncompromising progress is one which is levelled by art critic Robert Hughes as well. Instead, from this viewpoint, post-modernity is a subsidiary historical moment in a larger modern period.

James Fowler argues that post-modernity is characterized by the "loss of conviction", and Grenz concurs, saying that post-modernity is a period of pessimism contrasting with modernity's optimism.

However, the most influential proponent of this critique is Jürgen Habermas, who contends that all responses to modernity abandon either the critical or rational element in philosophy, and that the post-modern condition is one of self-deception over the uncompleted nature of the modern project. He argues that without both critical and rational traditions, society cannot value the individual, and that social structures will tend towards totalitarianism. From his perspective, universalism is the fundamental requirement for any rational criticism, and to abandon this is to abandon the liberalizing reforms of the last two centuries. Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (born June 18, 1929 in Düsseldorf) is a German philosopher, political scientist and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory, best known for his concept of the public sphere. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Universality (philosophy). ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ...

This argument is then extended to state that Post-modernity is counter-enlightenment (see The Enlightenment, modern responses). Richard Wolin in his book The Seduction of Unreason argues that key advocates of post-modernity began with a fascination for fascism. This is related to the theory that Romanticism is a reactionary philosophy and that Nazism was an outgrowth of Romanticism, a widely held viewpoint among modernist philosophers and writers. They argue that the cultural particularlity, and identity politics of post-modernity, by which they mean the consequences of holding to post-structuralist views, is "what Germany had from 1933-1945". They further argue that post-modernity requires an acceptance of "reactionary" criticisms that amount to anti-Americanism. Post-modernists, including Lyotard and Stanley Fish, see Habermas' problem as being that he desires to rationalize universalism, and that the entire critique rests on the modernists' insufficient faith in social mechanisms to work. (See post-empiricism). Francisco de Goya, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (1799): the artists exhausted and feverish doze A term widely used in the second half of the twentieth century to refer to a movement that arose in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries in opposition to the eighteenth century... ... Richard Wolin is an intellectual historian. ... Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Identity politics is the political activity of various social movements for self-determination. ... Flag burning is widely used internationally as a symbolic form of protest against the U.S. Anti-Americanism, often Anti-American sentiment, is opposition or hostility toward the government, culture, or people of the United States. ... Stanley Fish (born 1938) is a prominent American literary theorist and legal scholar. ...

This debate is seen by philosophers such as Richard Rorty as being a debate between modern and post-modern philosophy rather than being related to the condition of post-modernity per se. It also grows out of a common agreement on both sides that modernity is rooted in a rationalized set of Enlightenment values, which were ascribed to that period by the early modern. Richard McKay Rorty (born October 4, 1931 in New York City) is an American philosopher. ... Postmodern philosophy is an eclectic and elusive movement characterized by the postmodern criticism and analysis of Western philosophy. ... Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being modern. Since the term modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ...

(See also Hypermodernity) Hypermodernity is a type, mode, or stage of society that reflects a deepening or intensification of modernity. ...

Critiques within post-modernity

The range of critiques of the post-modern condition from those who generally accept it is quite broad, and impossible to easily summarize, since the debate is contemporary and on going. The list below includes some which have generated controversy and interest, and is not intended to be taken as comprehensive or exclusive.

One criticism is phrased as "The future ain't what it used to be". In this view, the world "promised" in the late 1960's and early 1970's has not arrived, and instead, the current incarnation of society is, somehow, less appealing, or at least less advanced than the "postmodernity" envisioned previously. Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ...

Another criticism levelled at post-modernity from within is expressed by author David Foster Wallace, who argues that the trend towards more and more ironic and referential expression has reached a limit, and that a movement back towards "sincerity" is required, where the artist actually says what she intends to have taken as meaning. David Foster Wallace is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. ... In linguistics, meaning is the content carried by the words or signs exchanged by people when communicating through language. ...

References

• Anderson, Perry (1998) The Origins of Postmodernity, London: Verso
• Giddens, Anthony (1990) The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Giddens, Anthony (1991) Modernity and Self Identity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Zygmunt BaumanBauman, Zygmunt]] (2000) Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Ulrich BeckBeck, Ulrich]] (1986) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity.
• Benhabib, Seyla (1995) "Feminism and Postmodernism" in (ed. Nicholson) Feminism Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange. New York: Routledge.
• Judith Butler Butler, Judith] (1995) "Contingent Foundations" in (ed. Nicholson) Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange. New Yotk: Routledge.
• Castells, Manuel (1996) The Network Society.
• Hicks, Stephen R. C. (2004) Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (ISBN 1-59247-646-5).
• Harvey, David (1990) The Condition of Postmodernity. An enquiry into the origins of cultural change, Oxford: Blackwell.
• Ihab Hassan, From Postmodernism to Postmodernity: the Local/Global Context (2000), text online.
• Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998) was a French philosopher and literary theorist well-known for his embracing of postmodernism after the late 1970s. He published "La Condition postmoderne: Rapport sur le savoir" (The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge) (1979)

Perry Anderson (born 1938) is a leading Marxist intellectual. ... Anthony Giddens in 2000. ... Anthony Giddens in 2000. ... Zygmunt Bauman (born 1925 in Poznan, Poland) is a British sociologist of Polish-Jewish descent. ... Ulrich Beck Dr. Ulrich Beck (b. ... Image:J Butler. ... David Harvey can refer to: David Harvey, former Leeds United goalkeeper (soccer) David Harvey, Marxist geographer David Harvey, philosopher David Harvey, Grammy Award winning producer D.Q.Harvey, statistician and treasurer of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians David Harvey, television presenter and executive David Harvey, author of Monuments... Ihab Hassan (born 1925) is a literary theorist. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Further reading

• Baudrillard, J. 1984. Simulations. New York: Semiotext(e).
• Berman, Marshall. 1982. All That is Solid Melts into Air. The Experience of Modernity. London: Verso.
• Chan, Evans. 2001. "Against Postmodernism, etcetera--A Conversation with Susan Sontag" in Postmodern Culture, vol. 12 no. 1, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Docherty, Thomas.1993. (ed.), Postmodernism: A Reader, New York: Harvester Wheatsheat.
• Docker, John.1994. Postmodernism and Popular Culture: A Cultural History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Eagleton, Terry. 'Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism'. Against the Grain: Essays 1975-1985. London: Verso, 1986. 131-47.
• Foster, H. 1983. The Anti-Aesthetic. USA: Bay Press.
• Fuery, Patrick and Mansfield, Nick. 2001. Cultural Studies and Critical Theory. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
• Graff, Gerald. 1973. "The Myth of the Postmodernist Breakthrough" in Triquarterly, no. 26, Winter 1973, pp. 383-417.
• Grenz, Stanley J. 1996. A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans
• Habermas, Jürgen "Modernity - An Incomplete Project" (in Docherty ibid)
• Habermas, Jürgen. 1981. trans. by Seyla Ben-Habib. Modernity versus Postmodernity. in V Taylor & C Winquist; originally published in New German Critique, no. 22, Winter 1981, pp. 3-14.
• Jameson, F. 1993. "Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" (in Docherty, ibid).
• Jencks, Charles. 1986. What is Post-Modernism? New York: St. Martin's Press, and London: Academy Editions.
• Joyce, James. 1964. Ulysses. London: Bodley Head.
• Lyotard, J. 1984. The Postmodern Condition: A report on knowledge. Manchester: Manchester University Press
• Mansfield, N. 2000. Subjectivity: Theories of the self from Freud to Harroway. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
• McHale, Brian. 1990. "Constructing (post) modernism: The case of Ulysses" in Style, vol. 24 no. 1, pp.1-21, DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University English Department.
• Palmeri, Frank. 2001. "Other than Postmodern?--Foucault, Pynchon, Hybridity, Ethics" in Postmodern Culture, vol. 12 no. 1, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Pinkney, Tony. 1989. "Modernism and Cultural Theory", editor's introduction to Williams, Raymond. The Politics of Modernism: Against the New Conformists. London: Verso.
• Taylor, V & Winquist, (ed).1998. Postmodernism: Critical concepts (vol 1-2). London: Routledge.
• Wheale, N. 1995. The Postmodern Arts: An introductory reader. New York: Routledge.
• Simpson, J.A. and Weiner, E.S.C. 1989. The Oxford English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (born June 18, 1929 in Düsseldorf) is a German philosopher, political scientist and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory, best known for his concept of the public sphere. ... Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism is a 1991 book by Fredric Jameson which started its life as a 1984 article in a 1984 article in the New Left Review. ... The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge is a 1979 philosophy book by Jean-François Lyotard in which he introduced the concept of the metanarrative with the following quotation: Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards metanarratives.[1] ^ Lyotard, Jean-François. ...

External links

• Kritikos: journal of postmodern cultural sound, text and image
• The postmodern essay generator
• European Journal for Postmodern Problems - An extension of the postmodern essay generator blending in European policy issues
• "My Postmodern Art Gallery at the Saguaro Lounge" - Satire of Artistic Postmodernism

Studies in postmodernity

• European Graduate School - Media and Communication Studies Program
• MIT Comparative Media Studies
• New School University - Media Studies Program
• University of Toronto - McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology
• University of King's College- Contemporary Studies Program