Postmodern
Grand Theories Credits,
references, and bibliography
Who are
we and where are we going?
VIDEO
Transition
from Industrial to Postindustrial Society (Daniel Bell)
Society--three
realms: social structure, polity, and culture Postindustrial
Society : mainly a change in social structure: economy, work, science, and
technology
From
production to services and information processing (especially health, research,
government) Blue-collar
work declines (local copy ). Professional work expands: lawyers, computer, scientists
and engineersTheoretical
knowledge versus "know-how," innovation based on research, ethical
questions (genome, stem cells, etc.) New
technologies and their impact--issue of control and predictability (security) "Intellectual
technologies" (cybernetics, game theory, information theory) Science, technology,
and growth--a symbiotic relationship (university-based)
Differences
Between Types of Societies (pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial)
Work: Farmers
and unskilled--semi-skilled and engineers-professionals and scientists Problems dealt
with: Extract from nature (primary occupations)--coordinating machines--managing
people with information Power: landowners
and military-industrialists and business through politicians--scientists
and researchers
Culture Culturomics )
Dominated
by irrationality, self-realization, and self-gratification (versus the
rationality of the economy) Postmodernism,
as a cultural reality, challenges the advancement of social structure
and the economy. The
possibility of a disjuncture leaves open the onset of revolution For
Bell, the hedonism of a consumer culture must be contained.
Cohen, Daniel. 2009. "Three Lectures on Post-Industrial Society ." translated by William McCuaig. MA: MIT Press.
Postmodern
Grand Theories
Post-modernism
(and ): (Emergence
of the post modern world==> the death of modernist architecture at 3:32 p.m.
July 15, 1972 <Lemmert 1990>). Actually,
it was probably March 16, 1972 .
Themes
of Postmodernist Thought
Modernity
(see also: A
MODERN SOCIETY? (and )
has failed to provide the solution to the problems of life."Progress"
is not an onward and upward march Science (positivism)
does not have all the answers Philosophically
integrative, yet focus is upon control mechanisms Cultural debates
are intensifying. The promise of the modernist "Individual" and
tolerance needs critical reflection Social Institutions
are changing at a rapid rate: Family, Religion, Education, etc. Post-Modernism
Defined
Everyday life expressions
of these themes:
Hi-Tech lifestyles Preoccupied
with consumer goods and media images The Mass International,
"demise of the nation-state" Irrationality
of Rationality The impact of
continual
change . McDonaldization
Increasing
Governmentality (And Other Grand Theories)
http://www.lclark.edu/~philclub/photos/michel_foucault.jpg
Michel
Foucault (Read his work )
Grand
theories, but not unilineal unfolding of history Not
a search for origins, but analysis at different points in time--raising questions
rather than finding answers Focused
on incoherence: internal contradictions Emphasis
on the discontinuities and reversals in history, relativism .
Governmentalities
(see also ):
"The practices and techniques by which control is exercised over people."
(2 , page 219)
Discipline
and Punish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk9ulS76PW8
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EsEgwYdzlA )
From torture
to rules as a means of control
Not humanization
(internal contradiction), but increased ability to punish.
Less
negativity (as compared to public torture) Rules
can be imposed quite early--preceding behavior (socialization) Rules
can be repeatedly applied Rule
systems support and reflect rationalization and bureaucratization
(efficiency and depersonalization) Generalizable:
rules and surveillance over entire population
Instruments
of Observation and Control
Hierarchical
observation Panopticon
(see also ) (possibility
versus actuality of observation)Disciplinary
society Normalizing
judgments (what is normal today?) Examinations--checking
up and assessing
Increasing
Disciplinary Power Microphysics
of power: attempts to resist the exercise of power and control occur at many
levels, and constantly restructures the process of control
Madness
and Civilization
Deinstitutionalization Psychotropic
drugs Internalization
of control
Grand Theory of Sexuality
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNcQA3MSdIE )
Sex
is and was repressed, but Victorianism led to an explosion of discourse on
sexuality This
led to more analysis and study of sexuality And,
increasing attempts to exercise power over sexuality
Control
over individual body and sexual practices Control
over the general population: health, life expectancy, etc. "By
controlling sex, society was able to control both the individual and the
species." (2 , page 225) Foucault
saw hope in the body, in sexuality, and in pleasure--methods to overcome
control attempts.
Queer Theory (see also )
Social and historical construction of sexuality Stigma and marginalization of LGBT Concern over identity politics Non-essentialist--no built-in traits, desires, characteristics .Critique of binaries Pre-ninetennth century--no such thing as sexual identity (as it is known today) Binaries are mutually linked, one typically inferior Gender and sex as a performance Sociological theory must incorporate the study of sex, gender, and sexuality, with a focus on social construction
Foucault and Heterotopias:
Postmodernity
as Modernity’s Coming of Age (Zygmunt
Baumann )
Postmodern
Sociology and a Sociology of Postmodernity
Fearful
of a postmodern sociology:
Less
concern with formative questions Connection
to postmodern culture--irrationality
Sociology
of Postmodernity:
Issues
of complexity and unpredictability. Fragmentation--no
central goal orientation or administration. Agents
and states operate in arenas of ambivalence and uncertainty. Reflexivity
Fluidity
and change Body
(and body cultivation). Seduction as a means of control Primacy
of knowledge and information--keys to resources and choice
Learning
to Live with Ambivalence (Liquid
Modernity ) (local copy)
(the book )
Ambivalence
about Postmodernity
Problems:
regionalism
and barbarism Yet
tolerance and acceptance Fear
of the "void" and draw of community: N eotribalism
(acceptance and refuge) Yet,
lack of concern and self-centeredness--possibility of cruelty Consumerism
is not enough to satisfy our needs
Postmodern
Ethics
Rejection
of coercive codes Moral
ambivalence No
universal morality "One
has to be for the Other before it is possible to be with
the Other." (2 , p. 229) Rejection
of complete relativism--there is a need for the center (state,
self). Irresolvable
Moral Dilemmas
"People
have full moral choice, but they have it without the guidance
of an overarching moral code once promised by moderity....morality...has
been privatized." (2 , p. 230)
The
Rise of Consumer Society, Loss of Symbolic Exchange, and Increase in Simulations
Jean
Baudrillard
http://www.spaceandculture.org/uploaded_images/baudrillard-778688.jpg
From
Producer to Consumer Society
Consumption
as Language
Code
(purchasing signs ) Needs
(no longer the basis of consumption) Hyperconsumption Difference--versus
needs (differences are infinite, therefore no end to consumption) (2 ,
p. 232) The
code controls choice and defines "needs" (how, what, where, and
when to buy, as well as what we buy means) Consumption
has little to do with "reality." It's not so much what we consume,
but what "what we consume" means . Relate
more to objects and settings than to other humans (spend our time in these
places, do the work (atm's, etc.), and people there are replicants: "would
you like to supersize that?"
From
Production to Consumption
Control
over consumers Insure
active and regular consumption: advertisin g ,
advertising
2010 , credit cards, spending time consuming or working for the money to
consume.
The
Loss of Symbolic Exchange and the Increase in Simulations
Symbolic
Exchange (Day of the Dead)
Contemporary
world--no cycle--no end of economic exchange Work: extraction
of resources--rather than renewal
Simulations simulacra )(local
copy )
Three
Orders of Simulacra (local )Loss
of enchantment Disneyland Reality
is mixed with the imaginary (advertising) No
truth and no reality--just simulations and hyperreality
(copies
of copies and more real than reality)
Las
Vegas New
Town Movies,
TV, Internet: cybermalls versus "real malls" Pornography
Consumer
Society and the New Means of Consumption
Means
of Consumption: Old and New
Means
of production--define relationship with material world, define self and relation
to others
Means
of consumption (make consumption possible) New
means of consumption (versus old: material, face-to-face, cash, Gemeinschaft)
McDonald's ,
Shopping malls, Superstores (since the 1950s)Material
structures, yet phantasmagoria (dream worlds) designed to enchant and
produce hyperconsumption Creative
destruction: clearing the old--eliminating them and simulating them Dematerializing,
too: internet, home shopping network
Spectacle
Need to
manipulate the consumer, to "enchant them, in order to stimulate
consumption I mplosion
(destruction of boundaries--new Busch stadium: department store, arcade,
and a ball park)
As
places grow too big--problems, yet online: shop bots
Time and
space: Collapsing time periods, gigantic spaces, lack of time references And,
simulations, too, especially online: Second
Life
The "prosumer"
and "prosumption?" The end of consumption (freeganism , permaculture , simple living ) ?
Paul Virilio ) (wikipedia ) Paul Virilio A Discussion by John David Ebert )
A breakdown
in boundaries--communication, transportation, computerization Space
becomes a non-issue. ("distance speed") Time
and Speed :
a world of images and appearances--no references or stability Lack
of direct contact--life is mediated (television, mass communications,)
Crisis
of intelligibility (lack unmediated knowledge of the things around us)(2 ,
p. 245)
War
Losing
time for reflection Mediated
killing Automated
response
Endocolonization
Not
only surrounding ourselves with machines, we are internalizing them, too. Pacemakers,
artificial organs, psychopharmacology Brain
wave control (cat ears ) loss of the distinction between inside and outside. Control
from the inside
Virtual
Reality : channeling and controlling mental images (The Matrix?)Conway's Game of Life or this )
Contemporary
Applications: The
Explosion of Surveillance in Our Lives
Feminism
and Postmodern Social Theory (a few notes )
Things
in commom:
Who
gets to define reality Movement
away from traditional concerns in philosphy and social science: decontructing
knowledge. And,
decontructing gender Reflexivity
and inclusionary forces--self challenging and self-critical. Always changing
(versus progressing).
Differences:
Maybe not so
inclusive (arcane language and and too academic). Denies the process
of theorizing just when marginal groups are coing into their own. Radical individulalism
versus collective action and liberation. Discourse and
narrative rather than material reality and inequality.
Internet
Exercises (1 )
Exercise
1 Go
to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website: http://www.census.gov and click on the box labeled
“E-Stats.” Go to the latest E-Commerce Statistics. Then, click on the most
recent quarterly e-commerce report and note the e-commerce sales for this quarter.
Then go to “previous releases” and check the e-commerce sales from a comparable
quarter in 2001.
What is the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales
for the most recent quarter? How
much of a percentage increase is this from 2001 Do
your findings support the claim that we are living in a postmodern world?
Why?
Exercise
2
Go
to the following website: http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/incarceration/
Read Human Rights Watch’s background report on
the prison population in the U.S.
How
much has the population of prisoners incarcerated for drug offenses increased
since 1980? What
group is disproportionately represented as part of the prison population? Use
Michel Foucault’s concept of a carceral archipelago to interpret these trends. From
Foucault’s perspective, what other information about crime and prisoners would
be useful to know? Can you find it on the Internet? Does it support or refute
his conclusions?
Annotated
Weblinks
Contemporary
Philosophy, Critical Theory, and Postmodern Thought: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/postmodern.html
Our
Postmodern Life: http://www.pixcentrix.co.uk/pomo/
A
website that discusses how postmodernism has influenced art, architecture,
music, and literature. The
Po-Mo Page: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html
Postmodern
Culture: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/pmc/contents.all.html
Museum
of Weird Consumer Culture: http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/museum.htm
Baudrillard
on the Web/Project Baudrillard: http://www.uta.edu/english/apt/collab/baudweb.html
and http://www.uta.edu/english/cgb/baud.html Foucault
Websites/Resource Centers: http://foucault.info/index.html and
http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucault/
Social
Theory for Fans of Pop Culture: http://www.theory.org.uk/index.htm
George
Ritzer: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/ritzer/
The
Unwinnable War: An Interview with Zygmunt Bauman: http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-vision_reflections/modernity_3082.jsp
CTheory:
http://www.ctheory.net
quiz
Works Cited
Contemporary
Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics, Second Edition,
George Ritzer, Mcgraw-Hill, 2007. The Instructor's Manual was prepared by James
Murphy, University of Maryland, College Park and Todd Stillman, Fayetteville
State University. These excerpts are from chapter 9.Ritzer, George. 2007/2010/2013. Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics. 2nd/3rd/4th editions. St. Louis: McGraw-Hill
URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/3210/3210_lectures/post_modern.html rok@umsl.edu Unless otherwise noted,
all pages within the web site http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/ © 2013 by
Robert O. Keel.Click here to Report Copyright
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