m Scholars have using this term for centuries

m Used in connection with technological

advancements or new levels of consciousness
m Habermas traced the use of the word „
 to
the late fifth century, when Christians used term
to distinguish present form the pagan and
Roman past
m ach era considers itself modern, which implies
that all of history leads to any given era
m According to Hegel, we have not yet reached a
point of completion, but instead we set the stage
for it.
m hen scholars think beyond the present
(modernity), they allow for both a future
(postmodernity) and, consequently, postmodern
thought
m American sociological theory states that
postmodernism followed the dominance of
functionalism in the1950·s and the prevalence of
neo-Marxist and conflict theory in the 1960·s and
1970·s.
m 1980·s-1990·s: many sociologists believed that
there was a ´decisive shift in the nature of
society, from ¶modernity· to ¶postmodernity·
¬ his led to distorted nature of many concepts and
ideas used by modern theorists to become
increasingly apparent
¬ postmodernist vocabulary and discourse were
adopted instead
 w Has had a mixed reception among scholars
w Symbolic interactionists were among the first
in social science community to join with the
concerns of postmodernism
w Postmodernists don·t look favorably at the
scientific model
m Sociology emerged as a discipline to explain the
dramatic transformations associated with
modernity; came after 
m Postmodernism is especially prevalent in the
world of art but has found its way into
sociological discourse in the past few decades.
m Gefining postmodernism is difficult
m Many postmodernist theorists disagree with one
another about what are the parameters of
postmodernism.
m ´he most important component of
postmodernism is its rejection of the scientific
canon, of the idea that there can be a single
coherent rationality of that reality has a unitary
nature that can be definitively observed and
understoodµ (Gelaney)
m here are some postmodernists who concede that
the physical world might operate by laws , but
the process of discovering these laws creates
culture that, in turn, is subject to interests,
politics, and forms of domination
m Believe a reality may exist, but definitive
knowledge of it is flawed/invalid
m Postmodern thought has been the product of non-
sociologists
m Recently, a number of sociologists have
incorporated the ideas of postmodernism into
sociological discourse
m Postmodernism rejects grand narratives on the
nature of the universe, doubts the advantages of
technology, reduces science to a language game,
criticizes the demands of the market and hyper-
reality of advertising, and offers no vision of
theory beyond many voices in continual play
m Postmodernism emphasizes role of
unconsciousness, reinterpreting knowledge as
socially constructed and historically situated
instead of a timeless representation of the world
by separate individuals.
m Born in l-Biar, Algeria
m French philosopher and essayist

m orks utilized deconstructivist approach

m Concept of
  is derived from his works

¬ mphasize the primary of the words we use, the
concepts they embody, and the rules that develop
within a group about what are appropriate ways of
talking about things.
m- 
„modes of thinking that apply
truth claims to universal propositions
m n other words, our knowledge of the social world
is grounded in the belief that we can make sense
of our ever-changing and highly complex societies
by referring to certain unchanging principles or
foundations.
m „
special approach to the
understanding and interpretation of published
writings.
m Goal was not limited to merely understanding
the basic structure of the text, but the thinking of
the author as well (German tradition).
m Utilized the hermeneutical method in his
analysis of other scholars
m Born in Philadelphia in 1909
m Son of a professor at the University of
Pennsylvania Medical School
m Graduated from Harvard College in 1931 and
earned a degree from Harvard Law in 1934
m Served as a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice,
Louis Brandeis
m aught at the University of Buffalo Law School

m Moved to Chicago and taught there until 1958,

and then left to teach at Harvard University for
over thirty years
m Book written by Riesman that was viewed as a
modern to postmodern discourse
m Giscussed dramatic social changes that were
changing
m Represented a study of the changing American
character
¬ America was moving from a society governed by
ñ

  to a society governed by  „ñ
 
¬ Shift of character from the upper middle class took
place and went from ´


into 





mu


people, who as children internalized
goals that were ´implantedµ by their elders
(modernism)
m  
 people became more susceptible to
the expectations and preferences of others
(postmodernism)
m ·„   
 



 




 ñ  
„„

ñ
 ñ
m Riesman·s view of postmodernism had to do with
the change in America·s  


¬ hat part of ´characterµ which is shared by

significant social groups and is the product of the
experiences of these groups

¬ ´he link between character and society«is to be

found in the way in which society ensures some
degree of conformity from the individuals who make
it up.µ
m n each society, conformity is Ô  into the child
and is either encouraged or frowned upon
¬ Conclusions: agents of socialization (family, media,
religion) make individuals conform to expectations of
specific social groups
m Relationships between society and individual
were very important
m 

 


 
social change is at a
minimum; follow long-held customs
¬ Little effort is spent on alternative ways of thinkingå
not a lot of innovation or technological advances
m u


 
characterized by
increased personal mobility, by a rapid
accumulation of capital (and technological shifts)
and by a constant ñ (production of goods,
exploration«)å Gramatic change in society
m  



term applied to upper-middle-
class persons in large cities; person is shallow,
freer with money, friendlier, and more
demanding of approval from significant others
than strangers
¬ Gain sense of self from reactions of others
m   


individuals who attempt to
meet standards of significant others
¬ people find themselves set on a course they can·t
realistically followåinsecurity
m ¦ „place where individuals attempt to find
harmony instead of conforming to norms of
´other-directedµ forces.
m    very difficult to attain; if it is
attained, people often fail to mold it into
structure and then succumb to anomie
m Joining more compatible groups will improve self-
consciousness
¬ Anyone unhappy with his or herself may alter
consciousness by joining groups that enhance their
quality o life
m Born in Versailles France
m as one of the world·s foremost philosophers and
a noted postmodernist
m aught at University of California, University of
Paris V and at mory University in Atlanta
m Argued that we were in an era of relaxation
¬ e·re urged to give up experimentation
m 0 
„

product or effect of the
development of modernity itself
m According to Jean-Francois, the ñ 
of
postmodernism implies a simple succession and
changes in a sequence of periods
¬ 0 
a new direction from the previous one
m n his book, 0 
„
 

 ñ 

 
he wrote about the condition of
knowledge as a postmodern one
¬ Believed (Postmodern) condition could be used to
describe conditions of knowledge in highly developed
societies
m 0 
„
word that designates the state of our
culture following the transformations, since the
end of the 19th century, and have altered the
game rules for science, literature, and the arts.
m Status of knowledge: altered as societies enter
the postindustrial age and cultures enter the
postmodern age (began in the late 1950·s³
uropes reconstruction period)
m Pace of development is contingent on
technological knowledge
m Societies with computer knowledge are more
likely to be at the forefront in the transformation
to postmodernity
m ncrease in technology=increase in knowledgeå
economically powerful nations, who will help
less-developed nations (bipolar power
relationship)
m Made clear distinction between knowledge and
science
m hought that knowledge couldn·t be reduced to
science, or even to learning
m nstead, Science and learning are subsets (types)
of knowledge
m Lyotard believed that with every new theory,
hypothesis, statement, or observation, the
question of legitimacy remains
m Lyotard links these three concepts to
postmodernism
m - 
„
 Believed that the grand narratives
of knowledge had lost their credibility in the
postmodern society
m -  pragmatics used in the story (every
utterance should be thought of as a move in the
game)å led to legitimacy
m ·
 Allow for society to define criteria of
competence; evaluate according to those criteria
what is or can be performed.
¬ 
. popular stories recount the successes and
failures of the hero·s undertakings åbestow
legitimacy upon hero
m nfants: Lyotard explained that it·s up to them to
emancipate themselves and become owners of
themselves through language
¬ Communication in a purposeful manner= advantages
over others.
m Born in Northern French town of Reims
m First member of his family to attend a university
m Became an assistant professor in September
1966 at Nanterre University in Paris
m He is a postmodern theorist and social
philosopher
m Radical among postmodernists
m rained as a sociologist, but his work has left
that discipline
m 1960·s: he was both a modernist and Marxist
m 1980·s: he could be considered both a
postmodernist and a critic of Marxism
m France in the 1960·s was very different than
France in 1950·s
¬ such as new architecture, many new expansions of
the consumer society
m n the 1960·s and 70·s, Baudrillard·s ideas were:
Marxist criticism of capitalism in studies of
consumption, fashion, media, sexuality, and the
consumer society
m He argued that the empirical object is a myth
m Believed that there was a time when signs stood
for something real; now they refer to little more
than themselves
¬ which means that they take on symbolic meaning
¬ this makes his postmodernist thinking similar to
symbolic interactionists
m Gistinctions between what is real and what is not
are the cornerstone of the postmodern world
m According to Baudrillard: ´we live in the age of
simulationµ
¬ simulations dominate society and have produced a
new kind of social order
¬ simulations lead to the creation of „
m the reproductions of objects or events

m ndustrial simulacra dominated during

industrialization
m Mass production replaced the natural form of
production that existed in feudal-medieval times
m echnological world requires a technological
language to describe objects and their relations
m New technological advancements affect all
structures in society
m He said that we live in a world that is not real,
and, instead we live in a hyperreal world where
signs have acquired a life of their own and serve
no other purpose than symbolic exchange
m Baudrillard·s relation to Marxism is extremely
complex and volatile
m His split with Marxism came about in his book
  0

 
m He felt that Marxist analysis of labor power,
production, use of value needs, and so on is a
leftover product of an era long ago
m Believed Marx·s concepts are too conservative
because they are too dependent on the analysis of
the political economy
¬ hus, he is a part of the poststructuralist critique of
representational thought
m Baudrillard pays close attention to contemporary
society
m He believed that society was no longer dominated by
production, but by developments of consumerism, the
media, entertainment, and information technologies
m Postmodern society is dominated by issues of
consumption
m Baudrillard said that society has undergone a
´catastrophicµ revolution that has led to the demise of
´socialµ society
m He blamed the proliferation of media communication
and mass entertainment as the chief culprits of this
demise
m Baudrillard believed that mass media and
entertainment are so powerful that they have
created a culture characterized by hyperreality.
¬ Hyperreality: the media no longer mirror reality:
they have become more real than reality itself
¬ 
 Robert Young played the role of Gr.
elby. Young received thousands of letters asking
for medical advice because the audience could not
separate the ´realµ Robert Young from the ´unrealµ
Gr. elby.
m Mass media is not the only institution
responsible for hyperreality
¬ extends to all aspect of postmodern culture and
comes in the form entertainment as well
¬ 
 He was very critical of Gisneyland. He
said, ´Gisneyland is presented as imaginary in order
to make us believe that the rest is real, when in fact
all of Los Angeles, and the America surrounding it
are no longer real, but of the order of the hyperreal
and of simulationµ.
m Born in Cleveland, Ohio
m He taught at:

m - Harvard from 1959-1967

m -Univ. of California at San Giego from 1967-1976

m -Yale from 1976-1983

m -UC at Santa Cruz from 1983-1985

m -Guke starting in 1986

m He now serves as a Gistinguished Professor of

Comparative Literature at Guke, where he
directs the Graduate Program in Literature and
the Center for Cultural heory
m He equates postmodernism with late capitalism
m Believes that distinct phases of the mode of
production have distinct ´cultural dominantsµ
¬ the cultural dominant is a pattern of representation
that appears across different media and art forms.
t is an indirect reflection of the underlying mode of
production and social conditions.
m According to Jameson, in 
ñ
„, culture
is dominated by consumerism and mass media
¬ Represents the shift form modern society to
postmodern society
m he impact of consumerism and mass media is
felt in all parts of life
m Jameson does not reject Marxian heory

m He sees both positive and negative

characteristics
m He believes that with late capitalism, aesthetic
production has become integrated into
commodity production
¬ catastrophe and progress all together
m One of Jameson·s concepts is Hyperspace
¬ Hyperspace: an area where modern conceptions of
space are useless in helping us to orient ourselves
m One of Jameson·s concepts is Hyperspace
¬ Hyperspace: an area where modern conceptions of
space are useless in helping us to orient ourselves
m Uses the concept of hyperspace to illustrate the
point that people develop cognitive maps in order
to maneuver in the complexity of society.
¬ he use of maps reinforces the reality that people
define the world spatially rather than temporally
¬ Jameson admitted that cognitive mapping is in
reality nothing more than a code word for ´class
consciousnessµ
m History: imperialism and colonization have existed for
thousands of years and therefore are clearly blamed
on modernism and postmodernism
m Jameson attempted to show a relationship between
modernism and imperialism in one of his articles
m He had to admit that imperialism is not a modern
construct
¬ nstead, he relabeled imperialism to fit his argument
against capitalism
m Jameson focused on imperialism NO as a
relationship between metropolis and colony, but as
the rivalry of the various imperial and metropolitan
nation-states
m Our understanding of the world is influenced by
concepts and categories that we inherit from our
culture·s interpretive tradition.
¬ Jameson wondered: How can readers of the present
understand literature of the past when it is written
in such a culturally different context?
m he answer to this he thought, lies in Marxism and Marx·s
perspective that history is a single collective narrative that
links past and present.
m Getermining what is ´falseµ and what is
´objectiveµ fact continues to dominate modern
thought.
m hen it is applied to the political aspects of life,
it becomes even cloudier
m Led interesting life that was cut short when he died of
A GS in 1984 at the age of 57
m Born in Poitiers, France on October 15, 1926
m nrolled at the Jesuit secondary school Collège St.
Stanislas in 1940.
m n 1946, admitted to Ècole Normale Supèrieure where
he received the 
ñ  ñ !"#$%the

ñ   !"#"%and the  & 
 

ñ  ñ !"'(%)
m Book trilogy devoted to sex-
 

!"*+%) 
 !"$#%and , 
0 !"$#%revealed his life-long obsession with
sex and with sadomasochism and a deep attraction to
San Francisco·s flourishing gay community.
m Some debate on whether Foucault was a
postmodernist, a functionalist, or something else
m Strictly speaking, according to Gelaney, Foucault was
not a structuralist, although he thought that
structuralism was the most advanced position in the
human sciences
m Foucault·s work is difficult to understand because of
his wide range of historical references and his use of
new concepts, but because most of all of his theories
do not fit well into any of the established disciplines.
m arly works center around the analysis of historically
situated systems of institutions and discursive
practices
m mbraced neutrality, a strong test of positivism,
and seemed to downplay the method of
hermeneutics.
m n     
 !"+"%,
Foucault insisted that human sciences can be
treated as autonomous systems of discourse.
m According to Greyfus and Rabinow (1982),
Foucault is not interested in recovering man·s
unnoticed everyday self-interpretation.
¬ Suggests that Foucault did not value the
hermeneutic approach because he did not attempt to
uncover any hidden meanings behind written words.
m n his book, Gñ
0¦
 

0 , Foucault described how the prisons
are examples of coercive social institutions found
in all societies and throughout most of human
history. nstitutions such as prisons and
asylums are highlightened by regularized
routines designed to control and repress human
behavior
m xamined the last three centuries of the history
of prisons and found that one form of torture had
been replaced by another
m Foucault·s structural analysis of total institutions
led him to conclude that modern prisons reflect
modern views of appropriate forms of discipline,
especially as determined by those who possess
power.
m However, as we see declines in the use of the
death penalty and more mental institutions and
asylums as progress, Foucault sees them as
epitomizing a shift in the way power is exercised
in a society. hey embody discipline, deprive
those involved of liberty, and exist to serve the
interests of those in power.
m n his book, 
 
, Foucault
challenges the hermeneutic belief in deep meaning by
tracing the emergence of sexual confession and
relating it to practices of social domination.
m Concerned about social systems as psychotherapy and
medicine. He questioned their power position and
their corresponding ability to dictate to others what is
´normalµ and how one ´shouldµ feel.
m Foucault saw these changes in the treatment of the
mad or the criminal as a central feature of the
modern discursive method, characterized by the
dominance of the sciences and by the transition of the
different disciplines claims into fields of practice such
as medicine, psychotherapy, and social work.
m From the tradition of Nietzsche, Foucault
believed that power and knowledge were
intertwined. Social institutions that are in power
positions generally have the knowledge to
manipulate others to maintain the status quo.
m Argued that one·s very identity and sense of self
are shaped by one·s position in the power
structure.
m Stated that power ´applies itself to immediate
everyday life which categorizes the individual,
marks him by his own individuality, attaches
himself to his identity, imposes a law of truth on
him which we must recognize and which others
have to recognize in him.µ
m n his later years, Foucault concentrated on the
relationship of the self to power and truth: how
the human being turns him or herself into a
subject through the technologies of the self.
m Sought to understand the role of the individual in
society, the changing nature of the self as power
relations change, and the ´effects of power
relations and the possibilities of their
transformation.µ
m Modern and postmodern theories are promoted
as alternatives to the more traditional
sociological theories.
m erms themselves are problematic, in that they
are vague and have been applied to a wide
variety of phenomena over a period of many
centuries.
m 
„ and ñ 
„
„ are usually used
in connection with advancements in technology
and new models of thinking
m o think like a postmodernist: One must break
from the taken-for-granted world, the given
rules, and the claims to authority found in society
m n other words, social thinkers must break from
the current modes of thinking 
doing
m Modern and postmodern theorists have disdain
for positivism and the scientific methods of data
collection and analysis. hey reject the grand
theorizing and narratives that are common in the
more tradition sociological theories
m here are those who wonder whether modern and
postmodern theories are actually theories at all.
Sociological theories have traditionally consisted
of grand narratives and ´big ideasµ.
Consequently, rejecting grand theorizing is
similar to rejecting sociological theory
m Aimed at their refusal to employ empirical
studies with their statistical analysis
¬ Gifficult to examine whether their observations and
theories are accurate because ´there are no
systematic tests of these assertions.µ
m Since every society has considered itself ´modernµ
the term is too vague to apply to a theoretical
approach
m ithin about 50-100 years, future generations
will laugh at our own claims of modernity
¬ Modern and postmodern theory might not be a theory
at all
m May be more accurately viewed as an ideological
belief system
m Postmodern discourse is itself vague and abstract

m Postmodern critics of sociological theory reveal

the questionable validity with which they work,
for they generally lack a normative basis with
which to make their judgments
m Postmodern social theorists are best at critiquing
society but they lack any vision of what society
ought to be
m Modern and postmodern theorists pay a great
deal of attention to the media and other forms of
entertainment.
m Modern and postmodern theories offer an
alternative approach to sociological theory, an
alternative that has not been embraced by most
sociologists.