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Postmodernism Essay

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Society has now entered a new, postmodern age and we need new theories to understand it. Assess this view. (33 marks)

Postmodernists argue that we are now living in a new era of postmodernity (an unstable, fragmented, media-saturated global village, where image and reality are indistinguishable.) In postmodern society, we define ourselves by what we consume. This is a fundamental break with modernity. They therefore take a relativist position. They argue that all views are true for those who hold them. No one has special access to the truth - including sociologists. All accounts of reality are equally valid and we should celebrate the diversity of views.

Lyotard suggests that we have entered a new postmodern age and that new theories are required in our society. In postmodern society, knowledge is just a series of different ‘language games’ or ways of seeing the world. However postmodern society is preferable to modern society where meta-narratives claimed a monopoly of truth and sometimes sought to impose it by force, as in the Soviet Union. Postmodernity allows marginalised groups to be heard. Lyotard argues that old theories can no longer explain this society due to the fact that our postmodern society is characterised by these competing views of truth. Yet, Lyotard’s theory is self-defeating. He suggests that all theories are without truth, portraying that his theory is another that should not be believed.

Baudrillard, in agreement with Lyotard, believes that society has entered a new postmodern age and new theories are needed to understand the postmodern world we now live in. Baudrillard argues that our postmodern society is no longer based on the production of material goods, but rather the buying and selling of knowledge in the forms of symbols and signs. He says that the mass media is so far into our lives that it begins to shape the way we live. Our society is therefore extremely saturated with media imagery. Baudrillard called this ’Simulacra’ which means media images are shown to reflect reality but have no reflection of the real event, and these images are seen all over the world showing people what 'is happening’. For example media image of war zones eliminate the corpses and death before being sent home, only to show war torn streets. Due to this we become unable to reveal the reality of situations from video games and Hollywood films. This system of Simulacra creates a ’Hyper-reality’ where the world becomes defined by the media. However, this over-emphasises the role of media and assumes people are passive to be manipulated by it, which may not be the case as some people are not influenced as easily as it suggests.

Giddens suggests that we haven't entered a new postmodern stage - he acknowledges that many changes have occurred in society in recent years, but he rejects the idea that we need new theories to understand it. Instead he argues that we are in a stage of ‘late modernity’. Giddens sees Late Modernity as characterised by ’reflexivity’ - knowledge we gain from society shapes how we act in it. In modern times social institutions are constantly reflecting on what they do and how they do it, and people are having to reflect on the circumstances in which they live their lives. Personal reflexivity means looking at freedom and fulfilment; he calls this their ’life projects’. However, this exaggerates the scale of social change as factors like ethnicity and class still strongly influence us.

Like Giddens, Beck also states that we haven’t entered a new postmodern society. He believes we are living in a later modern society, however the difference here is that he states we may need new theories to understand it as this society is characterised as a ‘risk society’. This means that the risk in the new society is produced by the sources of wealth. Specifically, industry and its side-effects are producing a wide range of hazardous, even deadly, consequences for society and as a result of globalisation, the world as a whole. Therefore, Beck believes that this theory can explain the the new postmodern age.

In conclusion,

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