Assessment of Postmodernism

How does the development of technology affect our society and social groups? How are our views of the development of technology flawed? In 1993, Langdon Winner set out to assert the significance of these questions when he published Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology. He both validly criticizes holes in the considerations of social constructivists and calls for new research into the ethics and morality on the effects of technological development. He is influenced by writings under the faculty of sociology of science, as their methodology is the basis of social constructivism, the concept that the critique is focused one (Collins, 1983).

In response to their critics, neo-realists attempted to develop their methodology on a truly ‘positivist’ grounds to account for an objective and universal ‘science’ of IR (Tickner, 1992; 11). In the subsequent decades, realist ideology, along with its dominant positivist methodology, was confronted by multiple schools of thought. Notable among these are, liberal institutionalism, Marxism, constructivism and Critical theory of Frankfort School. The particular ‘voices of dissent’ (George & Campbell, 1990; 269) under consideration in this paper, however, are postmodern and feminist responses to mainstream realist and liberal IR theory. In the light of post-structural and feminist insights to social theory and knowledge construction, the paper endeavors to build on the thesis that mainstream IR has been narrowly defined and contested by the dominant players of the field.

Throughout the development of sociology as a discipline, the main backdrop to both sociological field-work and theory has been the distinction between Self and Other – or subject and object – expressed more broadly through the study of the interplay between individuals and institutions. With the advent of poststructuralist thinking, also known as postmodernism, the preference toward this distinction has come under suspicion by some contemporary sociologists and philosophers. Critics typically charge postmodernism with holding subjectivity to higher ground than objectivity, that postmodernism is exclusively relativist in that it questions the unity of an objective reality. That is only partially the case; Jacques Derrida, one of the more influential writers on contemporary postmodernist thinkers, suggests that even the unity of a Subject is suspect. Historically, many sociologists have seen society as derived from Subject with the implication of axiomatic inalienable rights.

Introduction The advancement of sociological theory and philosophy into modernism and postmodernism has been a truly self-reflexive era of inspection of practices. A key intellectual here is Michel Foucault with his archeological analysis of punitive practices. More contemporary and darker sides of modernity have a similar methodological strife with positivist thought. A major question that modernists and postmodernists face is about legitimacy of discourse and practice. Specifically in academia as Foucault makes clear academia is intertwined with power.

Lastly, we will finally come to conclude how the concept of alienation differs from the concept of anomie. In Marx’s early works, he spoke of the alienation of man from his own essence. He then went on discussing alienation as the experience of isolation resulting from powerlessness when he wrote ... ... middle of paper ... ...appily or have a productive live unless guided by a set of invisible norms and regulations, a invisible hand of society. In closing, both Marx and Durkheim were extraordinary thinkers and theorist of their time. Both their theories have provided a better understanding of our society by examining our society and the crucial elements within it at a deeper level.

Until the end of the modern capitalist period, society ... ... middle of paper ... ...notions of `periodization' or timing; when exactly Postmodernism emerged. It was here that I was concerned with the changing aspects of the bourgeoisie, the academic establishment (or avant-garde), technology, and, politics. I also focused on Anderson's `polarities'; the way in which Postmodernism transitioned itself in contrast to Modernism. He acknowledges the universally accepted features of the movements in general and presents them in a more explicable and comprehendable manner. He also evokes the help of renowned thinkers such as Berman and Jameson, which gives his report more validity and support, but he also exhibits the ability to respectfully pinpoint some of their omissions, i.e.

The postmodernism era consists of a time period from after World War II up to present day. It is a time of questioning and change, that followed the modern era. Postmodernism is known for three key factors: rejecting absolutes, the idea of truth being a social construction, and that differences should be celebrated. These central ideas and the postmodernism period in general impacted the field of psychology a few different ways. First, postmodernism includes multicultural movements such as cross cultural psychology, second it pointed to the idea that perceptions, standards, studies, etc.

On the same hand on cultural level, discussions emerged whether modernism was dead or not and what kind of postmodernism was inheriting it. In the philosophical sphere, according to Steven Best and Douglas Kellner(1991), the erupted discussions were also concentrating on whether or not the traditions of modern philosophy had ended, and many theorists began praising a new postmodern philosophy related with Derrida, Jean-Francios Lyotard, Nietzsche, Baudrillard and more. Furthermore, the postmodern debates produced innovative, social and political theories, as well as theoretical struggles to define the multilayered postmodern phenomenon. On the other hand, according to The American Heritage Dictionary (1991) the postmodern can be described as “relating to art, literature and architecture, that reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional, classical or modernist elements of style to the extremes.” According to Steven Connor(1989) the “postmodern” terminology was firstly used by a number of writers in the 1950s and 1960s, however the concept can’t be said to have taken shape until the 1980s. As Hans Bertens(1995) poin... ... middle of paper ... ...ations.

This is what Taylor calls the ‘designative’ theory of meaning, the view that meaning consists in the role of individual words and sentences as designators for objects, relations, ideas and so forth in the world. This position represents a shift in our world-view, a shift which Taylor feels has done wonders to advance science, but which ultimately has moved us away from any plausible account of human nature... ... middle of paper ... ...ter what Taylor calls the ‘radically anti-subjectivist’ side of the expressivist doctrine. We encounter the claim that the community is, in a fundamental sense, the subject of expression. What expresses, the self or the subject of expression, is not some abstracted entity that experiences the world, but rather one aspect of a greater and ongoing expressive activity which constitutes the world. The subject of expression can have no true individuality, for it is only as an aspect of the greater expressive community that it can enjoy this world at all.

What I want to argue here is that their work has tended to formulate a particular approach to aesthetic educationand a unique version of a philosophical humanismwhich is then presented as critical theoryagainst the debilitating fragmentation ... ... middle of paper ... ...88); Jurgen Habermas, "Von Lukacs zu Adorno: Rationalisierung als Verdinglichung," in Theorie des kommunikativen HandelnsBand I (Fft: Suhrkamp, 1981). (4) Karl Marx, Das Kapital(Stuttgart: Alfred Kroener Verlag, 1965) p. 52. (5) Aeron Haynie, Imperialism and the Construction of Femininity in Mid-Victorian Fiction(Gainesville: University of Florida, Ph.D. dissertation, 1994). (6) Martin Heidegger in Marcuse's notes to seminar, "Heidegger, Einfuhrung in das akademische Studium. Sommer 1929" Herbert Marcuse Archiv of the Stadt- und Universit.