Late Modernity and Postmodernism

Modernity - The industrial age:

  • lasted for about two centuries up until the 1960s

  • ‘The Enlightenment’ - due to the decline of supernatural beliefs and the increase in rational thinking

  • ^^ This contributed to the decrease in conforming to tradition and increasing individualism

  • Contributed to more scientific discoveries, technology and the industrial revolution

  • Resulted in the emergence of the large working class and urbanisation due to the many agricultural workers who moved to growing cities

  • The age of capitalism and struggles of the new working-class

  • ^^ this resulted in the universal right to vote, democracy and directly elected governments in nation-states.

Theories of Late modernity:

  • Anthony Giddens - An age of disembeddedness which involves individuals becoming freed from local social expectations and relations. Due to globalisation, geographical barriers are broken down and people’s values, ideas and styles are adopted by global influence rather than local conventions. Reflexivity is the process of continually monitoring behaviour as well as reflecting on past decisions in order to make informed choices rather than conforming to a value consensus. This results in rapid change which causes uncertainty and instability on society which is hard to manage as it is unpredictable and potentially dangerous.

  • Ulrich Beck - Argues that the instability in late modernity society results in world risk society. This refers to the fact that late modern societies live with the risk of new and very unpredictable problems such as climate change, financial crisis or terrorist attacks. Anxieties are also increased by two other factors. First, individualisation which has causes people to feel like they have to take individual responsibility to manage these risks and prepare for these problems using reflexivity. Beck refers to this as reflexive modernisation. Then, there’s globalisation which has made it seem like these problems are so vast and are therefore out of our control. Mass media also worsens this due to the constant information about these problems and risks.

  • Zygmunt Baumann - Argues there has been a shift from heavy capitalism (heavy manufacturing industry) which was an age of certainty which he calls solid modernity. There has been a shift from this to software capitalism (the service sector, retail sector, mass media and IT) which is an age of uncertainty and fluidity which he calls liquid modernity. This consists of ever-growing consumer demands, ever-changing technology and the attempt to create a society of consumption. this is based on the belief that theres an “infinity of human desires”. He also calls globalisation negative globalisation as he sees it as problematic due to people being ill-informed and feeling overwhelmed by global forces that they can’t control. They are therefore constantly fearful of their undefendability in the face of global threats. Individualisation leaves people thinking they must face these challenges alone rather than having a sense of collective action which often results of feelings of inadequacy and self blame.

Postmodernism:

  • Argue that the enlightenment project has come to an end, instead we have entered an age of cynicism and scepticism.

  • Jean-Francois Lyotard - argues that the main change is in the power of language. Human societies engage in language games which determine what is true and what is right and wrong. In pre-industrial times the narrative was the main language used to establish truth. However the legitimacy of this narrative was determined by the status of the person telling the story. But, in modernity, science rejected this as ignorant and primitive therefore denotative language become dominant. Denotative language is the core meaning rather than any connotation or interpretation. In denotative language games, what matters it that the argument stands up to scrutiny rather than the status of the storyteller. However, Lyotard still rejects scientific claims as metanarratives. However, in postmodernity, they are not accepted by the public therefore Lyotard describes postmodernity as unable to believe these metanarratives.

  • In postmodernity these metanarratives and denotative language games have been replaced with technical language games which focus on what is useful and efficient rather than what is true thus there is now no objective truth.

  • Jean Baudrillard -