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Modernity and Postmodernity - Coggle Diagram
Modernity and Postmodernity
Modernity
- Refers to the
Modern, Industrial, Ordered
World
Refers to the
industrial world
that began to emerge in Western Europe in the late
18th century
Saw the rise of
mass production, urbanisation
and
state bureaucracy
-
states
are crucial to modern society
Refers to a period of time when studies of the world were guided by
ordered, rational scientific
thinking
Science
was seen as the answer, rather than the
traditional
sources of knowledge e.g. religion
Modernist sociological theories
study
modernist societies
Aim to
investigate
the world
scientifically
, and explain why societies have
evolved
to be the way they are, and why they're
arranged
in the way they are
The modernist theories are the
structuralist
theories of
Marxism
and
Functionalism
Also called
'grand stories'
= 'big stories' and
'meta-narratives'
= 'stories that make sense of other stories'
They're
big, all-encompassing theories
that try to find
certain answers
to questions
Like Marxism, claim a
monopoly of the truth
(claim they're
objectively right
about society)
Postmodernism
- Argues Society has
Progressed
from
Modernity
Say society has
moved on
from the ordered world of
modernity
because of various
changes
Work
has become more
flexible
, and service industries have partly taken over from manufacturing industries
There's an emphasis on
consumption of cultural products
There's
pluralism of culture
, and
pluralism of roles
People
interpret
society and their own identities, in
different ways
according to the
circumstances
they're in
E.g. Some women could have labels and roles of 'mother', 'wife', 'friend' and 'employer'
Globalisation
has affected both
production
and
communication
, which has made boundaries between
states less important
There's been globalisation of
consumption
and
culture
Technology
has improved
communication
between cpuntries
There's a more
global economy
, with many transnational corporations (TNCs)
Argue that sociology has moved into a time when
metanarratives
can't answer all the questions about the social world
Say that there's a whole range of
competing theories
out there, which all have
something
to say about society
Argue no one theory can claim a
monopoly of the truth
All versions of the truth are true for the people who believe in them -
relativist
approach
Lyotard
(1979) argues that this has important consequences for our understanding of
language
Instead of one overall language of words and their
set meanings
, there's just a series of '
language games
' - the meaning of a word depends on the way someone
uses it
Meaning is something we
construct
Criticised
by
Structuralists, Action Theorists
and
Others
Postmodernists emphasise the role of
culture
and the
media
in driving the creation of
identities, norms
and
values
People no longer seek one answer to life but are happy to
pick
and
choose
values and identitites
Largely ignores the interactions between
individuals
, which
upsets action theorists
Also ignores the relationships between
social institutions
, which
upsets structuralists
Annoys
Marxists
because it ignores inequalities, e.g.
Baudrillard's
idea that TV is a cause of hyper-reality
ignores
its function as a way of maintaining hegemony
Harvey
(1989) says that
Baudrillard
is
too pessimistic
about our inability to change society for the better
Seem to
contradict
themselves - postmodernism claims that no one theory can claim a monopoly of the truth, so postmodernist theories surely
can't do that either
Late Modernity
-
Alternative Theory
to Postmodernism
Some
disagree
with the claim that we're living in a postmodern society
Giddens
(1990, 1991) argues that we're actually in a state of
'late modernity'
(or
'high modernity'
) - a
continuation
of modernity, not a break from it
In
late modernity
, the
changes
to work, consumption, culture and so on are
accelerated
Giddens
says this is due to
2 things
Reflexivity
- we constantly
reflect
upon ourselves an our actions, and
modify
them accordingly
Disembedding
- we
interact
with one another without meeting
face to face
e.g. via internet chats
These have combined to
constantly change culture
, making it
unstable
Late modernity* is a state with
high risks** - of war, economic collapse or environmental disaster
Giddens
sees high modernity as like a
juggernaut
- a massive force which we can collectively try to direct, but which could go
out of control
Giddens
disagrees
with postmodernists about our ability to
solve
these problems
As a modernist thinker, he believes that we
are
capable of
rational thinking, which we can use to
make plans
and
reduce risk**
Beck
(1992) argues we're becoming
more individualised
, and therefore we're becoming
even more reflexive
, because we have to take
more responsibility
for our
own actions
and their consequences
As we do this, we seek to
minimise
the
risk
of bad consequences - calls this
'risk consciousness'
Society can be improved
, because we can minimise risks on a
political scale
E.g. w try to
monitor
and
minimise
the risks of using
nuclear power
Baudrillard
- Said We're Living in a
Hyper-Reality
For
Baudrillard
(1981), postmodern society is more about
consumption
than production, and he focuses on how we consume
signs
A
signifier
is something you can see or hear e.g. a red traffic light
The
sign
is these 2 elements linked together
The
signified
is what this represents e.g. stop your car
Argues that in postmodern society, signs don't actually relate to any
real things
, because we have
no agreed definition
of what is real anymore
We consume these signs (he calls them
'simulacra'
- one is called 'simulacrum'), even though they're actually
meaningless
Calls this situation
'hyper-reality'
- complete inability to tell what is real from what isn't, so that
simulacra
take over from reality
Pretty negative
about
society
Very critical of the
media
, he says that
television
is one of the main causes of hyper-reality, confusing what is real with
representations
of reality
Argues that since we've lost our ability to tell what's
real
, we've also lost our ability to
improve
society