Postmodernism

1
Postmodernism
2
Elias

• Figurations
• denies structure agency dichotomy
• The Civilizing Process
• Changes in everyday behaviorsbecome more
  self-constrained
• Sources books on manners from 13th to 19th
  centuries
• Occurs through increasing dependency chains

3
Control and Self-Control

• Monopoly of force concentrates and becomes more
  passive
• Self constraint takes over in social space
• Because of increasing interdependence and
  connections among individuals (dependency chains)

4
Baumans sociology

• Postmodern SociologySociology heavily influenced
  by postmodern ideas, irrational approach
• Sociology of PostmodernitySociology of rational
  and systematic discourse with an effort to
  develop a model of postmodernity

5
Baumans Comparison

• Modernism
• Universality
• Homogeneity
• Monotony
• Clarity

• Postmodernism
• Institutional pluralism
• Variety
• Contingency
• Ambivalence

6
Ambivalence

• Postmodernism
• increasing tolerance, but also increasing
  ambivalence
• Fears become privatized
• Fight off fears through community(socially local)

7
Politics

• Modernity
• Separation of theory from politics
• Postmodernity
• Cannot separate theory from politics
• Declining centrality of the state power in
  smaller more diffuse locations

8
Changes in Politics

• Tribalism communities
• Politics of desire relevance
• Politics of fear reliability/experts
• Politics of certainty trust/credibility

9
Ethics

• Pluralism of authority
• No binding norms
• Purposes become part of dialogue
• Centrality of Choice/Autonomy of Agent
• Self determination self monitoring, self
  reflection
• Limits on agent are hotly contested (How far
  does the autonomy go?)

10
Theory of Postmodernity

• Postmodern world complex/unpredictable
• Lacks of central goal-setting organization
• Agents are partly constrained
• Habitats appear uncertain/indeterminate
• Identity is constructed
• Body is the (only) constant constraint
• No explicit life plans orientation points
• Accessibility to resources varies visibility
• Requires knowledge and information

11
Classical Theory

• Social and Intellectual Forces
• Revolutions political and industrial
• Feminism
• Urbanization
• Religious Change
• Enlightenment and Rise of Science
• Conservative reaction to Enlightenmt

12
Classical Theory Themes

• Marx economic change, rise of capitalism,
  political/social revolution
• Durkheim shared morality, social integration
  and regulation, growth of science, division of
  labor
• Weber development of capitalism, economic
  complexity, changes in religion and rationality,
  authority

13
Modernism
14
Modernism
15
Modernism
16
Postmodernism
17
Postmodernism
18
Postmodernism