What Is Postmodernism

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ideas having lost faith in the modern ideals. Although modern architecture might have been scientifically advanced using the latest and cheapest materials, people rejected it, preferring to return to a variety of styles from the past. Examples of this can be seen in the rejuvenation of the Albert Dock in Liverpool, and “mock” medieval squares.
Similarly in Sociology postmodernism rejects the theories of the past, and represents a break from the “modern” way of thinking. For example, Marx envisaged society evolving through social change into the “perfect” communist society, where there are no issues of class or general inequality. Postmodernists would refer to his theory, and those of other sociologists, as a metanarrative and writers such as Lyotard (1984) have seen the rejection of such theories as central to postmodernism:
“Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodernism as incredulity to metanarratives”
People have lost faith in ...

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look at the rise in the use of the Internet to conclude that this is indeed the case. Bill Gates has become the richest business on the planet, and, to a certain degree, one could say that he does control “knowledge”, or at least people’s access to it.

Another important aspect of the post-modern society is the diversity that exists within it. Even postmodernist theory is not a unified approach. Kellner (1990) argues that:
“There is nothing like a unified ‘post-modern social theory’…there is a plurality of different post-modern theories and positions”

Lyotard (1984) sees society embracing the differences within it and uses culture as ...

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