Modernism,/Modernity

Ylaster Narratives and metanarratives oF history, culture and naLior'tal identity as accepted before WWII (American-European myths of progress). Myths of cultural and ethnic- origin accepted as received.

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Surspiclon and rejection of Master Narratives for hisLory and culture; local narraLives, ironic deconstruction of master narratives: countermyths of orig in.

Faith in "Grand Theory" (totalizlng explanations in h-istory, science and culture) to represent all knowledge and explain
eve ryth ing
.

Rejection of totalizing theories; pursuit of localizing and contingent theories.

Faith in, and myths of, social and cultural unity/ hierarchies of social-class and

Social and cultural pluralism, disunity, unclear bases for social/national/ ethnic Llnity,

ethnic/national values, seemingly clear for unity.

bases

Master narrative of progress through science and techno.logy,

Sense of unified, centered self; "individualism," unified identity,

Skepiicism of idea of progress, anlitechnology reactions, neo-Luddism; new age

re lig io ns
.

Sense of fragmentation and decentered self; multiple, conflicting identities.

ldea of "the family" as central r-rnit of social order: model of the middle-class, nuclear famlly. Heterosexual norms.

Alternatlve family units, alternatives to middle-class marriage model, multiple identities for couplings and childraising. Polysexuality, exposure of repressed homosexual and homosocial realities in
cultu res.

Hierarchy, order, centralized control.

Faith and personal investment in big politics ation-State, party).

Subverted order, loss of centralized control, f rag me ntation,

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Trust and investment in micropolitics, identity politics, local politics, institutional power
strugg les,
Rhizom e/su rface tropes. Attention to play of surfaces, images, signifiers without concern for "Depth", Relational and horizontal difrerences,
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Root/Depth tropes. Faith in "Depth" (meaning, value, content, the signified) over "Surface" (appearances, the superficial, the sign)fier),
Crisis in representation and status of the image after photography and mass media,

iffe re ntiatio ns.

Culture adapting to simulation, visual media becom i ng u nd iffe re ntiated eq u iva ent fo rrns, simuiation and real-time media substituting for the real.
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Faith in the "real" beyond media, language, syrnbols, and representations, aLithenticity of
"orig ina ls. "

Hyper-realrty, image saturation, srrnulacra seem more powerful ihan the "real"; images and texts with no prior "original". "As seen on TV" and "as sen on ,,lTV" are rnore powerful than uninediaied eric,erience. Disruptir:n of the dorninance of hrur cultr_rre by popirlar cultr-rre. ivl i,.<ing oI popular and highr c,-t jiui,-. ne\n/ valuation o1'pop cultLr re. h.,iir-tr , L:.r al foi-ms cancel hlgh i low calegcrr:s Dei,assil'iea

Dichotomy of high and iovrr culiure (official vs, popular cultr-tre). Imposed consensus thai ir r!. -r olflcial culture is normativ an.l ai. l ' ii-atir,:, the

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Broadcast media/ cenEralized one-to-many

comrnu nications, Paradigms networks and TV'

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broadcast

user-moLivated, individualized, many-tomany media. Paradigms: Napster and the

Web,

Centeri ng/centeredness, centra I ized

knowledge.
Determ inacy , dependence, hierarchy.

Dispersal, dissemination, networked, distributed knowledge

Indeterminacy/ contingency/ polycentric power sources.

Play, irony, challenge to official seriousness, subversion of earnestness.

Seriousness of intention and purpose/ middleclass ea rnestness,

Sense of clear generic boundaries and wholeness (art, music, and literature), Design and architecture of New York' Clear dichotomy between organic and inorganic, hurnan and machine. Phallic ordering of sexual difference, unified sexualities, exclusion/bracketing of pornograPhY.

Hybridity, promiscuous genres/ recombinant culture, intertextuality, pastiche.

Design and architecture of LA and Las Vegas Cyborgian mixing of organic and inorganic, human and machine and electronic.

Androgyny/ queer sexual identities, polymorphous sexuality, mass marketing of pornography, porn style mixing with mainstream images.
Hypermedia as transcendence of the physical limits of print media. The Web as infinitely expandable, centerless, inter-connected i nformation system.

The book as sufficient bearer of the lniord. The library as complete and total system for printed knowledge.

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