Date post: | 22-Nov-2014 |
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A2 Theory and Methods
Modernity and Post-Modernity
Modernity
Structure/security/place/stabilityYOU KNEW WHO YOU WERE
Science aided progress and
finding the truth
Nationhood
Overt social control
A one-way media
A role for education
A belief in continuity and
situation
Social class
Family
Mass Production
Community life
Postmodernism
Modern age has lost the enlightenment
Search for truth
People less likely to
follow rigid ideology
Greater pluralism in modern life
No absolutes
Culture and structures are fragmented
Less predictable
Traditional labels and categories loose relevance
Consumerism is all
Globalisation has
narrowed time and
space
Transformation of the self
(‘pick ‘n’ mix’)
Fragmentation of social life
The impact of ICT on social life
Confusion/lack of structure/incessant choice
YOU CREATE WHO YOU WANT TO BE
Post-modernism illustrated – ‘reality TV’ & ‘Disneyland’
Reality TV illustrates the interchange
between the consumer and the media
They are ‘real people’ who can be observed and scrutinised.
They do not entertain – rather than exist…they are a mish-mash of cctv surveillance and game show
In the real world they are talentless nobody's who are treated as stars
Disneyland is a simulacra. It is simulated reality. It is artificial –
yet ‘real’.
It is a place that exists and is accepted because our imagination makes it so.
The fine line between reality and fantasy is ‘greyer’. The power of
the symbol over substance
Modernity & Globalisation
The Enlightenment Project
• Modernist theories e.g. Marxism are part of the project- the idea that through reason and science, we can discover true knowledge and progress to a better society
Find evidence of your own contact with globalisation:
1. Look at the labels in your clothes/shoes and find four different countries in which they have been produced.
2. Identify four events in distant parts of the world that you have seen on TV in the last month.
3. Identify four global brand names you have seen advertised in this country or, if possible, seen in other countries.
Globalisation- growing interconnectedness of societies
Occurring for several reasons:1.Technological changes e.g. Internet/ air
travel
2.Economic changes e.g. Growth of transnational companies (TNC’s)
3.Political changes e.g. Fall of communism & growth of transnational bodies have created opportunities for global capitalism
4.Changes in culture and identity
Rapid changes linked to globalisation have led to new questions:
• What kind of society do we now live in- modern/ new postmodern society?
• What kind of theory can explain today’s society?- postmodernism/new version of modernism?
• The Enlightenment project- can we achieve true knowledge to improve society?
Three theories offer answers: PM, theories of Late modernity, Marxist theories of PM
What is PM?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqsP0vQJJ44&feature=related
Postmodernism
• We now live in a new era• There are no objective criteria to prove
whether a theory is true therefore any theory claiming to have the truth about how to create a better society e.g. Marxism is a meta narrative- someone’s version of reality. They are no longer sufficient to make sense of our changing world
• We should celebrate the diversity of views rather than seek to impose one version of the truth
• They do not accept the ideas of the Enlightenment project- do not believe in the power of Science to solve all social and environmental problems.
• Media produces an endless stream of images, making culture unstable and fragmented; there is no longer a coherent set of shared values. People cease to believe any one version of the truth
• Identity becomes destabilised: we can change it simply by changing our consumption patterns, picking and mixing media-produced images to define ourselves
What criticisms of PM are there?
Page 255
Theories of Late Modernity
• Unlike Postmodernism, theories of late modernity (TLM) argue that today’s rapid changes are not the dawn of a new postmodern era, but a continuation of modern society.
• We are now in late or high modernity. Key features of modernity have now become intensified; e.g. change has always been typical of modern society, but now it has gone into overdrive.
• TLM subscribe to the Enlightenment project.
Giddens reflexivity and high modernity
• High modernity has two key features that encourage globalisation and rapid change:
• Disembedding – no longer need face to face contact in order to interact. Disembedding breaks down geographical barriers and make interaction more impersonal.
• Reflexivity: Tradition and custom no longer serve as a guide to how we should act.
• We are thus forced to become reflexive – to reflect on and modify our actions in the light of information about risks.
• This means we are continually re-evaluating our ideas. Under these conditions, cultures becomes increasingly unstable.
• Disembedding and Reflexivity account for rapid and widespread nature of social change in high modernity
• By enabling social interaction to spread rapidly across the globe, they help to drive the process of globalisation
Beck: risk society
• We now face new high consequence risks, e.g. environmental harm. Beck calls these ‘manufactured risks’ as they result from technology, not nature.
• Like Giddens Beck sees late modernity as a period of growing individualisation, in which we become increasingly reflexive. Tradition no longer governs how we act. As a result we have to think for ourselves and reflect on the possible consequences of our choice of action
Evaluate TLM pg 257
Marxist Theories of Post modernity
• Like Beck & Giddens (& unlike PM’s) they believe in the Enlightenment project for achieving objective knowledge and using it to improve society
• However they agree with PM’s that we have moved from modernity to postmodernity
• But do not see it as a new society but merely the most recent stage of capitalism
• To understand modernity we must examine its relationship with capitalism
Flexible accumulation
• Postmodernity arose out of the capitalist crisis of the 1970’s (end of the economic boom) which gave rise to a new way of achieving profitability (Flexible accumulation)
• It involves the use of ICT, an expanded service and finance sector, job insecurity and working ‘flexibility’ to fit employers needs.
• It involves production of customised products for ‘niche’ markets (rather than mass markets) and brings many of the features of postmodernity
The features include:
• Customised products promote cultural diversity
• Easy switching of production from one product to another
• Leisure, culture and identity become commodities produced for profit
• Global finance markets and ICT produce compression of time and space
• It brings about political changes, especially the weakening of the WC movement. In its place, a variety of oppositional movements emerge e.g. feminism, environmentalism
Summary
• We have moved from modernity to postmodernity however Marxist views differ in two ways:
1.They retain a faith in Marxist theory as a means of explaining these changes
2.They argue that the goal of Enlightenment project- to change society for better- can still be achieved