Globalisation, modernity and postmodernism

Indivualism

Increasing freedom and choice in society due to secularisation, globalisation , migration and changing role of women

Families more choice leading to family diversity

Media- pick and mix identities in the global mass media

Giddens- individualisation thesis 

The process by which individuals gain autonomy and become more independent from traditional social structures and collectives, such as families, communities, and social classes

• Religion has less influence on people’s choices eg around love and marriage

• Changing role of women, women are working and are financially

• independent which allows them more choices

• Changing social attitudes

• Globalisation- this has led to increased migration and diversity as well as a global mass media which offers choice and diversity of culture and lifestyles

Eval:

People are not completely free to

make their own choices as

gender, class, religion and

ethnicity do still influence our

lives eg children in receipt of FSM

are more likely to underachieve

in education, women typically

earn less.

Globalisation

Devlopment of global mass media and the McLuhan- Global village 

tech, trade, transport. Easier to migrate to new countries, cheaper to fly, migration has led to more culturally diverse societies, globalisation has led to global mass media which provides access to culture from around the world and global village of online communities such as BLM and Me too

Eval: Lead to cultural imperialism

Loss of meta narratives

Postmodernists believe scientific knowledge is no longer the truth but one of many possible truths, and therefore cannot be used for making society better. So someone who believes that the earth is flat, is equally as right as someone who believes it is round.

Therefore they reject the meta-narrative of science, and claim science has led to problems such as global warming, nuclear weapons, GM crops and antibiotic resistant superbugs.

They also believe meta-narratives (grand theories) such as Religion,

Marxism and Feminism also do not provide the truth, so also cannot improve society.

Postmodernists take a relativist position- all views are true for those

Hyper reality

Hyper reality- Bauldrillard

People can’t distinguish between reality and fiction. People don’t live in the real world as TV has become part of life and life has become part of TV, media creates reality 

e.g reality tv- kuwtk, love island, online realtionships, AI, airbrushed images, fake news 

Eval:

Hyper reality- people can tell the

difference between what is real

and fake and are aware of which

media sources are more likely to

be unverified

Beck late mod + risk society

• We live in a risk society, where the central concern is managing risks created by modernisation itself (e.g. climate change, nuclear threat).

• Manufactured Risks: These are new, global and unpredictable, unlike traditional risks.

• Late Modernity: Beck, like Giddens, argues we haven't moved into postmodernity but into a new phase of modernity -late modernity-characterised by rapid change, uncertainty and reflexivity.

• Individualisation: Sociology must focus on how people navigate uncertainty, make choices and manage risks in a world where tradition no longer provides clear answers.

• Criticism: Beck's theory is criticised for being too Western-centric and not accounting for global inequalities in risk exposure. Marxists argue we have outsourced risks to LICs dangerous manufacturing industries and the risks of flooding with food production for a global market.

Giddens late mod

• We haven't entered postmodernity, but rather late modernity.

• Reflexivity: Individuals constantly reflect on and revise their identities and lifestyles in response to new information.

• Disembedding: Social relationships are no longer tied to local contexts. For example, online dating.

• Implication: Traditional structures (class,gender) still matter, but individuals have more agency.

• Criticism: Structural theorists argue that Giddens may overstate individual agency and underestimate the continued influence if class, gender and ethnicity.

• Giddens believed that there were two main features of late

modernity:

The process of disembedding, in which social relations are

being lifted out of local contexts of interactions.

Also, reflexivity is occuring, which means that tradition and

custom no longer guide to how we behave, we can make

choices as individuals.

We are therefore constantly re-evaluating our actions in light

of new information, ideas or influences.

Culture is becoming increasingly unstable.