The Significance of Postmodernism in the Contemporary World - Report Example

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF POSTMODERNISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD Different scholars and theorists have been trying to identify and define postmodernism but face challenges because of the changing nature of the society’s perceptions of the same. For instance, the notion of globalization, which is relatively a new phenomena is continually encroaching political attitudes, social interconnections, and other elements that constitute the global society. This is happening despite the fact that globalization focused largely on economic structures of world trade. For the past 20 years, debates on postmodernism have dominated the intellectual and cultural scene in various fields throughout the world. For instance, polemics emerged in aesthetic and cultural theory over whether modernism was dead or not. The sort of post modernism that would succeed the modernism in arts was a major concern. The same happened in philosophy where many started celebrating a new postmodernism that was associated with Nietzsche, Derrida, and Heidegger among others1. Notably, the assault of postmodernism resulted in new political, social, and cultural theories. Several theoretical attempts tried to understand and define the multifaceted aspects of postmodernism. Those advocating for postmodernism aggressively criticised the traditional culture, politics, and theory. Defenders of modern tradition often respond ignore the new challenges, attacking the challenger in response, or attempting to come to consensus and appropriate the new positions and discourses. Introduction Debates on postmodernism have dominated the cultural and intellectual scene for the past two decades. The impact of postmodernism is evident in various fields, which has caused the dominance of the subject among theorists and scholars. Polemics have emerged in barely all areas questioning whether modernism already vanished or is still in existence2. Many question the nature of post modernism that is perceived to gradually succeed modernism. Proponents of postmodernism have been aggressively criticizing traditional culture, politics, and theory. Defenders of modernism, also the opponents of postmodernism have responded to the critics in various ways. They ignore the challengers, attack them in response, or attempt to come to consensus and appropriate the emerging discourses. Notably, though, emerging discourses on postmodernism continue to raise issues that are not easy to dismiss. The emerging concerns, however, cannot be easily incorporated into existing paradigms. This paper presents an overview of postmodernism and its significance in the contemporary world. The paper presents an argument showing that postmodernism is excessively pessimistic with regard to political changes whereas it is shown to be realistic on changes and developments on popular culture. Defining Postmodernism Postmodernism has been primarily defined as a time or period in the world history as much as some people perceive of the same as a specific worldview or ideology. Thomas Oden, a theologian defined postmodernism as a period succeeding the enlightenment era (1789-1989) characterized by the French revolution and the fall of Berlin Wall. As indicated, some people perceive of postmodernism as an ideology and not a period. Stanley Grenz, a professing theologian of postmodernism perceives of postmodernism as an intellectual mood and a range of cultural expressions that comprise of ideals, values, and principles lying at the core of the modernity way of thinking and perceptions of the world. Grenz defines modernity as an emerging approach, the current era when the postmodern outlook continues to shape our society. This is an era when postmodernism attitudes, ideas, and values reign and mould culture and other aspects of life. Grenz emphasizes that postmodernism is an era of a postmodern society because it succeeds the modernism period3. While postmodernism literary refers to the period after modernism, it is best described as the incipient and actual dissolution of social norms associated with modernity. Significance of Postmodernism in the Contemporary Society A detailed analysis and evaluation of literature reveals that it is challenging to define postmodernism. In fact, several scholars, in appreciation of the challenge faced in defining postmodernism have related the task to a story of three blind people standing before an elephant with a purpose to discover and define or express what they feel. The result from the exercise of the three is as much predictable as it is humorous. This illustration shows the danger of giving definitions that are largely descriptive instead of being definitive. The best approach to ensure proper conception of the notion of postmodernism is to note and appreciate four basic aspects of postmodernism worldview4. First, postmodernism worldview can be perceived of as being a prevailing mood. Instead of viewing postmodernism as a distinct set of propositional truths or a set of doctrines, it is better to view the subject as a mood or mindset characterized by two aspects: fundamental rejection and opposition of absolute truth and a deep refutation of reasoning and hence rebuff of modernity. With regard to postmodernism, the community constructs truth implying that truth is subjective and fluid but not objective or authoritative in postmodernism5. Secondly, postmodernism can be perceived as a prevailing methodology founded on the mood of age. The new methodology leads to completely new approaches and ways of analyzing and understanding truth claims and ideas. Truth claims are often complicated sets of ideas or claims that a community sets forth to serve as a tool for the community to gain ascendancy and power over other communities. With reference to a multicultural setting, individual communities have their own “truth story”. There is no room for conception that a truth story from a certain community is better or valid than narratives from other communities6. Similarly, no narrative is invalid or less significant than others are. With this notion of pluralism, truth is not perceived as a foundational thing, delivered, revealed, or subject to study for life change. Instead, it is to be comprehended as being formed, constructed, and fashioned to comply with the needs of the specific community. Truth, thus, should be deconstructed and revealed rather than be believed and obeyed. Thirdly, postmodernism perception of the world is described as a dominant philosophical movement. A developing group of theologians and philosophers have disseminated its ideology to all academic disciplines and facets of culture in the contemporary society. Critically, history, politics, science, education, law, linguistics, sociology, art/architecture, music, and literature have been affected, impacted, and changed by the intervention of postmodernism. Postmodernism is descriptively a penetrating cultural metamorphosis that is altering all aspects of life in the society today. The influence of postmodern worldview has a deep and widespread influence that is causing gradual transformations in all areas of daily life7. Its philosophy and hence influence are being disseminated by vehicles such as technology, media, and education among others. Postmodernism theorists claim that the high-tech media now characterizing the society is a major cause of the emergent processes and transformations that have led to a postmodern society. Advocates argue that the postmodernist era constitutes a novel socio-cultural formation stage that requires new theories and concepts. The theorist further assert that new technologies such as the media and computers, changes in socioeconomic systems, and the emergent of new forms of knowledge blend to form the postmodernism social formation8. Individualism and relativism are radicalized and applied in all areas of knowledge when it comes to postmodernism. As shown in the preceding paragraphs, truth and reality are specifically determined and shaped by social class, personal history, culture, religion, and gender. According to postmodernism worldview, these facts combine to determine the shape of narratives and significance of our lives as being culturally embedded and localized social constructions9. Notably, postmodernism theorists express doubt and suspicion on anyone making universal truth claims. Claims of universal meanings are perceived as imperialistic attempts to oppress and marginalize the rights of other people. An important value of postmodernism is its emphasis in the permissibility of all totalizing behaviors of viewing all dimensions of life. As a worldview, postmodernism does not approve any single defining source for truth or reality. Instead, postmodernism clinches on plurality, differences, and selective ways of tolerance. Remarkably, postmodernism is full of inconsistencies and absurdities. For instance, postmodernism is a worldview that argues against existence and significance of any worldview in the world. It is an anti-theory that utilizes theoretical tools and approaches to dispute and neutralize all theories. Nevertheless, postmodernism is a worldview that presses for imposed uniformity with an intention to resist uniformity. It uses propositional sentiments to negate truth and facts based on proposed statements. Critics of postmodernism argue that the worldview’s concern for diversity, plurality, and tolerance does not lead to a stable and secure society as anticipated. Instead, the postmodern era has exchanged a misguided mood, in this case optimism of modernity, for another one, specifically a pessimistic mood, that is uncertain and skeptical10. Regardless of criticism from opponents and critics of postmodernism, theorists appreciate various aspects of postmodernism as causing positive impact on society. For instance, theorists have emphasized that the postmodern society boasts of a newly found ability to control nature and the world of illusions. This is because postmodernism immerses people into a virtual environment of simulations and images while encouraging the people to act out their desires. Ultimately, postmodernism focuses on turning reality into simulations and making such simulations to appear factual. With that, humanity will eventually acquire the capacity to create and control the immediate environment. The postmodernism society has continued to use the newly found power to enormous good. Notably, though, the society has and continues to use the power to create an emergent worldwide culture where images, storylines, simulations, and performances are used to manipulate the public opinion and sell false ideas as well as phony candidates. Therefore, postmodernism is turning out as a realm of illusions from various perspectives. The political sphere is largely relying on postmodernism to manipulate the public. This is because the society is deeply immersed in postmodernism. People in the postmodern era are highly influenced because of the dominant characteristics of the era. For instance, postmodernism is characterized by a mood change that was caused by the disappointment and devastations of World Wars I and II. Then, philosophies of nihilistic existentialism and despair became popular in Europe before disseminating to other parts of the world later in the postmodern era11. Postmodernism is excessively Pessimistic on Political change It is difficult to define postmodernism politics leave alone giving a detailed account of the political change in a satisfying way. This is because among the main conceits of postmodernism is the claim that there exists no single universal truth. Therefore, no single definition can satisfactorily act as truthful definition of the postmodernism politics. Certain ideas, however, can be perceived as symbolic in the postmodernism politics despite being a difficult political construct. These include the lack of definite structures and truth in the political sphere. This political outlook is seemingly nihilistic. Through individual or group action, it is possible to depict the political climate as being incurably corrupt. It is also possible to see the political climate from a positivistic angle by espousing positive change. Postmodernism politics are founded on basic idea that the fundamental postmodernism ideas and philosophy can be extended into the political arena. Postmodernism clinches to a worldview that is considerably symptomatic of the developments of the late 20th and 21st century events. However, theorists claim that the postmodernism political inclination is an extension of numerous ideas proposed in the enlightenment era of the 1600s. Major constituting ideas include the notion that no single truth can be satisfactorily established about anything whether good or bad. Ideas, therefore, should be deconstructed to derive meaning. The political sphere is the largely affected by this postmodernism conception. People in the political arena easily manipulate their followers thinking and perceptions. This is because people derive meaning depending on situation. Further, politicians have learnt to tell people what seems impressive whether true of false. To a postmodernist, there is no truth to any issue but limitless number of differing although equally important and respected opinions. This is where postmodernism converges with the tenets of political change and correctness. This perception sounds impressive because it calls for respect and honor to other people’s opinions. Notably, though, some opinions especially within the political sphere do not deserve such respect because they are baseless. As indicated in the preceding paragraph, politicians use various dirty tactics to convince and manipulate masses. They tell people what they are certain sounds impressive to win the vote. Sometimes politicians know that their opinions are false yet clinch to such to achieve certain objectives at long run. Going by postmodernism, we are supposed to respect such opinions even when the owners cannot defend them satisfactorily. Yes, all people deserve the right to their opinions but postmodernism seems illogical in this case. Postmodern politics are founded on the notion that power is in all institutions whether schools, factories, prisons, and hospitals. Remarkably, postmodernism politics politicized all aspects of social life in the society. Earlier worldviews focused largely on factories as the institutions that warranted political power. With all spheres of social life becoming subjects to questioning in postmodern politics, all aspects of the society in return focus on politics as the core of the social setting. The pluralistic approach has made power vulnerable, which has compelled postmodernism theorists to emphasize on frailty and contingency of power relationships12. Postmodernism has resulted into changes in political orientations that are attributed to the tenets of the postmodernism theory. Notably, the entire society is now changed in orientation that all elements of the society seem to be founded on political base. Postmodernism and Popular Culture Popular culture has undergone significant transformation since the commencement of the postmodern era. For instance, although starting in modernism, the breakup of culture into “highbrow” and “lowbrow” expressions was largely accelerated in the postmodernism. Highbrow culture includes the arts, sculpture, paintings, stage plays, and classical music, as well as poetry and literature. Lowbrow culture has its mainstay as entertainment: soap operas, television, commercial art, cheap novels, popular music, and music. Largely, the lowbrow culture is a product of the postmodernism era because much of the developments were realized after the modernism era. In addition to that, the highbrow culture has undergone remarkable transitions because of new inventions of the postmodernism era. An evaluation of these two revels that lowbrow has gained dominance in the contemporary society, which has guaranteed it the name “popular culture”. It is now the culture of the masses throughout the world. In my view, postmodernism is being realistic with developments in popular culture. Advances in technology have made popular culture universally accessible and aided its spread to various parts of the world. Globalization, which is a phenomenon of the postmodernism era, has played a significant role in ensuring that popular culture almost reaches all parts of the world13. Postmodernism theorists relate popular culture to a computer virus that invades any society, overwrites existing content, replicates itself, corrupts existing files, and causes undesirable damage to highbrow culture. People living in the postmodern era live and experience the world through media. Images relayed through VCRs, TVs, and DVDs are now used to create virtual realities that most people cannot comprehend. Postmodernists justify the dissolution of the differences between truth and fiction with their claim that truth is fiction. They use this to confirm their assertion that reality and truth is what we perceive it to be. As expressed by Richard Tarnas, the mind is creative and active in the process of discernment and recognition but not a passive reflector of the external world or intrinsic order. Postmodernism ideologies and methods are gradually infiltrating the education system with the adoption of vision based education programs. Noticeably, learners are being conditioned to interpret and process materials presented through audiovisual means. This is because many schools, under the influence of postmodernism, are emphasizing on visual aids rather than on audible and written word14. Clearly, children and hence learners of the postmodernism era are significantly affected. They hardly interpret or even understand material that has not been simulated or expressed visually. This is because they live in a postmodern era that emphasizes on none existence of truth. Content becomes meaningful once interpreted at an individual level particularly when aided with visuals or simulations. Summary and Recommendations Postmodernism has been an issue of concern in the contemporary society leading to dominance of the subject in media such as magazines, newspapers, and talk shows among others. Many people find it difficult to define the word largely because the subject is still at its formative stages. Scholars have not fully researched and explored to arrive at consensus regarding the definition and all it entails. Some claim that postmodernism has to do with the events unfolding after the modernism era while others say that postmodernism is all about intellectual mood and a range of cultural expressions that comprise of ideals, values, and principles lying at the core of the modernity way of thinking. This paper has shown that post modernism is largely pessimistic regarding the change of politics whereas it is considerable realistic regarding changes and developments in popular culture. The political arena seems to misuse the ideals of postmodernism era especially on the interpretation of truth and falsehood. Political leaders often manipulate the public with their opinions because postmodernisms grant them the right to their opinions. It is necessary that scholars conduct intensive inquiry on the constituents of postmodernism, its ambiguity, and the fate of social elements at its disposal. Bibliography Bennett, Oliver. Cultural Pessimism: Narratives of Decline in the Postmodern World. New Delphi: Edinburgh University Press, 2001 Chorney, Harold. City of dreams: social theory and the urban experience. Canada: Nelson Canada, 1990. Cilliers, Paul. Complexity and Postmodernism: Understanding Complex Systems. New York: Routledge, 2002. Fedorak, Shirley. Pop Culture: The Culture of Everyday Life. Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 2009. Karthauser, Kyle. Anthropoetics 15, no. 2 (Spring). March 12, 2010. http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap1502/1502Karthauser.htm (accessed February 17, 2014). McRobbie, Angela. Postmodernism and Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, 2004. Nachbar, John G., and Kevin Lausé. Popular Culture: An Introductory Text. California: Popular Press, 1992. Shapiro, Gary. After the Future: Postmodern Times and Places. Chicago: SUNY Press, 1990. Smith, Richard, and Philip Wexler. After Postmodernism: Education, Politics And Identity. New York: Routledge Publishers, 2005. Ward, Glenn. Understand Postmodernism: Teach Yourself. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2010. Read More