POST MODERNISM “The Noise of Battle”
no intrinscic essence to a text, only contrast-need for deconstruction MODERNISM POST no intrinscic essence to a text, only contrast-need for deconstruction we cannot ground our words in a real world Derrida Jacques 1967 "Each society has its regime of truth, its general politics of truth, that is the type of discourse which it accepts and makes function Foucault Michael 1975 knowledge no longer the search for absolutes and meta narratives new technologies= production of information The Post Modernist Condition- a cultural age Jean Francois Lyotard 1979 The idea that truth and the world are actually out there is myth Richard Rorty historians use narrative and poetic constructions which reflect more about the historian Historical text as a literary Artefact Hayden White 1978
Modernism vs Postmodernism Master Narratives and Metanarratives of history, culture and national identity; myths of cultural and ethnic origin Faith in "Grand Theory" (totalizing explanations in history, science and culture) to represent all knowledge and explain everything. Faith in, and myths of, social and cultural unity, hierarchies of social-class and ethnic/national values, seemingly clear bases for unity. Suspicion and rejection of Master Narratives; local narratives, ironic deconstruction of master narratives: counter-myths of origin Rejection of totalizing theories; pursuit of localizing and contingent theories Social and cultural pluralism, disunity, unclear bases for social/national/ethnic unity.
Modernism vs Postmodernism Master narrative of progress through science and technology. Sense of unified, centered self; "individualism," unified identity. Idea of "the family" as central unit of social order: model of the middle-class, nuclear family. Skepticism of progress, anti-technology reactions, neo-Luddism; new age religions Sense of fragmentation and decentered self; multiple, conflicting identities. Alternative family units, alternatives to middle-class marriage model, multiple identities for couplings and childraising.
Modernism vs Postmodernism Hierarchy, order, centralized control. Faith and personal investment in big politics (Nation-State, party). Faith in the "real" beyond media and representations; authenticity of "originals" Subverted order, loss of centralized control, fragmentation. Trust and investment in micro- politics, identity politics, local politics, institutional power struggles. Hyper-reality, image saturation, simulacra seem more powerful than the "real"; images and texts with no prior "original". "As seen on TV" and "as seen on MTV" are more powerful than unmediated experience.