Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism.

Uses of the term

In architecture, art, music and literature, postmodernism is a name for many stylistic reactions to, and developments from, modernism. Postmodern style is often characterized by eclecticism, digression, collage, pastiche, and irony. Some artistic movements commonly called postmodern are pop art, architectural deconstructivism, magical realism in literature, maximalism, and neo-romanticism. Postmodern theorists see postmodern art as a conflation or reversal of well-established modernist systems, such as the roles of artist versus audience, seriousness versus play, or high culture versus kitsch.

Related Topics:
Architecture - Art - Music - Literature - Modernism - Eclecticism - Collage - Pastiche - Irony - Pop art - Deconstructivism - Magical realism - Maximalism - Neo-romanticism - High culture - Kitsch

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In sociology, postmodernism is described as being the result of economic, cultural and demographic changes (related terms in this context include post-industrial society and Late capitalism) and it is attributed to factors such as the rise of the service economy, the importance of the mass media and the rise of an increasingly interdependent world economy. See also Postmodern, Information age, Globalization, Global village, Media theory.

Related Topics:
Economic - Demographic - Post-industrial society - Late capitalism - Service economy - Mass media - Postmodern - Information age - Globalization - Global village - Media theory

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As a cultural movement, postmodernism is an aspect of postmodernity, which is broadly defined as the condition of Western society after modernity. The adjective postmodern (in slang abbreviated to pomo) can refer to aspects of either postmodernism or postmodernity. According to postmodern theorist Jean-François Lyotard, postmodernity is characterized as an "incredulity toward metanarratives", meaning that in the era of postmodern culture, people have rejected the grand, supposedly universal stories and paradigms such as religion, conventional philosophy, capitalism and gender that have defined culture and behavior in the past, and have instead begun to organize their cultural life around a variety of more local and subcultural ideologies, myths and stories. Furthermore, it promotes the idea that all such metanarratives and paradigms are stable only while they fit the available evidence, and can potentially be overturned when phenomena occur that the paradigm cannot account for, and a better explanatory model (itself subject to the same fate) is found. See La Condition postmoderne: Rapport sur le savoir (The Post Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge) in ], and the results of acceptance of postmodernism is the view that different realms of discourse are incommensurable and incapable of judging the results of other discourse, a conclusion he drew in Le Différend (1984).

Related Topics:
Cultural movement - Postmodernity - Modernity - Jean-François Lyotard - Metanarratives - Paradigm - Subcultural - Ideologies

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In philosophy, where the term is extensively used, it applies to movements that include post-structuralism, deconstruction, multiculturalism, gender studies and literary theory, sometimes called simply "theory". It emerged beginning in the 1950s as a critique of doctrines such as positivism and emphasizes the importance of power relationships, personalization and discourse in the "construction" of truth and world views. In this context it has been used by many critical theorists to assert that postmodernism is a break with the artistic and philosophical tradition of the Enlightenment, which they characterize as a quest for an ever-grander and more universal system of aesthetics, ethics, and knowledge. They present postmodernism as a radical criticism of Western philosophy. Postmodern philosophy draws on a number of approaches to criticize Western thought, including historicism, and psychoanalytic theory.

Related Topics:
Philosophy - Post-structuralism - Deconstruction - Multiculturalism - Gender studies - Literary theory - Positivism - Discourse - Critical theorists - The Enlightenment - Aesthetics - Ethics - Knowledge - Western philosophy - Postmodern philosophy - Historicism - Psychoanalytic theory

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The term postmodernism is also used in a broader pejorative sense to describe attitudes, sometimes part of the general culture, and sometimes specifically aimed at critical theories perceived as relativist, nihilist, counter-Enlightenment or antimodern, particularly in relationship to critiques of rationalism, universalism, or science. It is also sometimes used to describe social changes which are held to be antithetical to traditional systems of philosophy, religion, and morality.

Related Topics:
Relativist - Nihilist - Counter-Enlightenment - Antimodern - Rationalism - Universalism - Science - Morality

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The role, proper usage, and meaning of postmodernism remain matters of intense debate and vary widely with context.

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