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Modernity vs postmodernity - Coggle Diagram
Modernity vs postmodernity
Modernity
Bureaucratic states / nation states
Rationalisation
Urbanisation - growth of cities
Knowledge from science rather than religion
Has economic production
Traditional identifies / features
Describes 'modern' period beginning in Europe several hundred years ago
Eg. Feminism, Marxism, Functionalism - meta narratives, structural theories, disregard free will / choice of individuals
Postmodernity
Cultural diversity, choice / freedom, fragmented identity, drawing from different forms of media
Death of the metanarrative - move away from religion
Globalisation, media, consumerism
Primary and secondary sector has declined due to globalisation - tertiary or service is now more common
New features that modernity doesn't have
Politics has become more personalised - identity eg. sexuality, ethnicity, religion rather than social class interests
Started in 1980s
Nation states displaced by globalisation
Global interactive digital social networking rather than reflecting a basic social reality - consuming the same to consuming different forms of media
Foucalt - knowledge and power
Anti foundationalism - no object criteria to prove a theory true / false
No theory that has an explanation for the whole of society can be proven right eg. Marxism, Functionalism, Feminism - these are all metanarratives
Discipline over individuals was exercised through sovereign power and changed to self surveillance and disciplinary power
Power can control individuals through discipline
Relativism - postmodernism vs relativism
Discipline is a mechanism of power and surveillance is a part of discipline
No theory has special access to the truth and all truths are true to each individual person
Knowledge is an exercise of power and power is a function of knowledge
Can believe what we want - pick n mix identity
Foucalt - power and knowledge are inter-related
Surveillance society - move from sovereign to disciplinary power and self surveillance
Panopticon - guards have knowledge and power as self surveillance is a result of individuals not having access to it - guards can exert discipline and leads to social order
Evaluation (AO3)
Goffman - criticised Foucalt's idea, stating that prisoners find ways of resisting controls in prisons
Neglects the expressive aspects of punishment - not surveillance
Lyotard - metanarratives
People are in so many groups, interests, and lifestyles are changing
Question rationalisation of society (Weber and Bruce) - many turn away from this view and are not rational
Societies can no longer be understood in the terms of general theories - one version of the truth eg. Marxism
Analysis (AO3)
Covid conspiracy theories - doesn't actually exist, virus escaped from a Chinese lab, rates were inflates, vaccines make your arm magnetic
Religion - pick n mix religions, spiritual shoppers in a spiritual marketplace (Hervieu Leger)
Family - choose your own family type with diversity eg. voluntary childlessness
Loss of faith in superiority of science and progress
Postmodernism isn't a metanarrative as it doesn't provide an absolute truth or solutions - only comments on society's features
People no longer believe in the myth of truth
Evaluation (AO3)
Contradictory as it does what it criticises
Myth of truth - Lyotard is saying his truth (diversity, fragmentation, choice) is the absolute truth
Claiming that there are no metanarratives is a metanarrative
Baudrillard - media saturated society
Live in a world based on images rather than reality eg. AI, Love Island, Disneyland - we have a land dedicated to simulacrum which imitates what society could be like
Created a hyperreality - unable to distinguish between reality and fiction / media
Simulacra - representation or imitation of something
Assume that the media is depicting a true reality but we are unable to understand that it is not actually reflecting reality
This media saturation has distorted the way we see the world
Life in postmodernity is so dominated by media imagery that it has become media saturated
Culture and identity
Metanarratives - people start to undermine these metanarratives and lose faith in these absolute truths
Metanarratives in the past have failed - eg. Marxism hasn't led to a successful revolution, meaning we have lost faith
Leads to instability - fragmentation in society makes it more uncertain / insecure and no longer know the correct thing to do
In postmodernity, you can pick n mix identity - no longer constrained by these metanarratives
Society shows endless versions of the truth - globalisation means we can access different channels - able to see different versions of the same story
However, we have an endless amount of truths so according to Baurdrillard, if we cannot grasp reality, we have no power to change it
All individuals are unable to grasp endless structure and don't understand the extent of the truth, so conform to everyone else eg. sitting in a classroom, listening to teacher
Evaluation (AO3)
Archer - habitus is different for M/C and W/C as they have less freedom in choosing their identity as it is predetermined for them
Eg. W/C individuals don't have the same access as a M/C individual - can't afford the same lifestyle - like eating at expensive restaurants, going on holiday often
Philo and Miller - not everyone has the ability to change their identity or they may have some ability but cannot do it
Evaluation (AO3)
Doesn't deal with inqualities in society
Best and Kellner point out that postmodernism is a weak theory and while it identifies some important features of society, it fails to explain how they came about (eg. media)
Not everything is a hyperreality / simulacrum - some people are actually experiencing issues in society
Ethnocentric view as it is not applicable to non-industrial societies
Haven't suggested any alternatives to grand theories
Pick n mix identity is not accessible for everyone - M/C, white men, compared to W/C, EMs, females
More of a critique of modern society rather than a sociological theory
Pointed out failures with grand narratives - Marxism, Feminism, Functionalism, which don't take into account free will, choice, and change in society
Some have more / less freedom than others