Do We Live in a Postmodern Society?

1
Do We Live in a Postmodern Society?
Lecture by Dr Christopher Kollmeyer
2
Outline for Lecture

• Key Question Do we live in a postmodern society?
• Postmodernism Defined Things characterised by a
  rupture with, and movement beyond, modernism.
• Possible Realms where Postmodernism Manifests
• Time, Space, and Social Relations
• Arts, Pop Culture, and Aesthetics
• Epistemology
• Societal Structures
• Economy
• Politics
• Geo-political affairs

3
First, What is Modernity?

• Its a historical period that began in the 1700s
  in Western Europe.
• It resulted in massive social change in which
  long-standing, traditional societies were rapidly
  and thoroughly transformed.
• Economy agrarian ? industrial
• Human settlements small rural ?large urban
• Polity empires ? nation-states
• Epistemology traditional, dogmatic ?rational,
  scientific
• It spread unevenly across the worlds societies.
• Imperial expansion (e.g. India, the Americas)
• Imitation (e.g. Japan, Turkey)

4
Human Population Growth Example of Massive
Social Change Occurring During Modernity
5
Summary of Selected Social Changes Occurring
During Modernity
6
Time-Space Compression Technology Shrinks Our
World
Sailing ships (1500s 1840s)
Trains and stream ships (1840s 1920s)
Propeller airplanes (1920s-1940s)
Jet airplanes (1940s present)
Source David Harvey. 1990. The Condition of
Postmodernity. Pp. 241
7
Information Age and time-space compression

• Intel Corp invents micro-chip in 1972
• Information tech becomes generalized
• throughout society
• Information now travels at light speed
• ? so-called Death of Geography

8
Time-Space Compression Occurs Unevenly
Source Peter Dicken. 1998. Global Shift. Pp.
153.
9
Social Consequences of the Separation of Time and
Space

• Dis-embedding of social relations Removing
  social activity from its localized context.
  Co-presence not required.
• Globalized Social Interdependence Distant events
  increasingly have local consequences
• Ontological Insecurity Declining stability and
  continuity in ones personal identity and ones
  surrounding social environment.

Source Anthony Giddens. 1990. The Consequences
of Modernity.
10
PoMo in Fine Arts and Pop CultureDominance of
Signs and Symbols
Signified
Signifier
Symbol representing a man
An actual man
11
PoMoDe-linking of Signifier and Signified

• Empty' or 'floating' signifiers Signifiers with
  vague, highly variable, or little connections to
  their signified.

Advert for Perfume Signifier
Perfume Signified
?
12
Postmodern Signs

• Simulacrum Simulacra are copies without
  originals. Or representations that bear little
  relation to any reality.

Disneyland as Simulacrum par excellence
13
PoMo in the Fine ArtsAndy Warhol and the
Blurring of High and Low Culture, of Near and
Far, of Past and Present
14
PoMo in the Fine ArtsThe Many Identities of
Cindy Sherman
15
Modern vs. Post-modern TV Adverts
Modern
http//video.google.com/videoplay?docid6122785873
351184363qgenre3Aad_promo
Post-modern
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vA08HQP_SlOA