Postmodernism questions and answers graded A+

Postmodernism3 key questions of postmodernism - correct answer Are we in a new era? Do we need new theories to understand it? Is objective knowledge still possible? Modern society - correct answer Nation state with powerful institutions. Capitalist organized by a state Fordist principle and mass production. Changes to modern society - correct answer Growing interconnectedness, we now have a global culture that is fragmented. No longer a nation state Technological advancements and development of a risk society. Still capitalist but now a weightless economy (low reproduction cost and completely accessible) Affect of globalisation on society according to postmodernists - correct answer Unstable, fragmented and media saturated. Images and reality are blurring. Foucalt - correct answer Knowledge is nothing more than a discourse (a way of describing the world) One may dominate but it doesn't make it truer than another. (Ie religion in past, science now) Antifoundationalism - correct answer There is no foundation to knowledge so we can't prove any claim is true so we must accept all versions of reality and say there is no truth just truths. As all other theories don't accept this they are meta-narratives and this is dangerous because it oppresses other views. Lyotard - correct answer Knowledge is a language game, and post modern society is better than modern society because we are more accepting and tolerant of other views as opposed to modern society which suppressed certain views. Boudillard - correct answer Simulacra - all the knowledge we have about the world is gained through the signs/ symbols in the media. We don't see reality just an image. We can no longer tell the difference between and image and reality we live in hyper reality and so objective knowledge is no longer possible. Postmodern view of the effect of globalisation on culture and identity - correct answer Culture now is unstable, fragmented dominated by media images. Our identity is based on consumption, we buy products construct our own identities. Criticisms of postmodernism - correct answer Ignores power inequality Poverty limits ability to pick and mix identity due to poverty. It's illogical and invalidates all views. Giddens - correct answer Late modernity - LMS is going through rapid global change that has led to high consequence manufactured risks. Due to dis-embedding, geographical locations are no longer important as social interactions have become impersonal. Reflexivity - tradition no longer dictates our choices, we monitor our own actions leading to instability. Beck - correct answer We live in a risk society, we fear man made risks now as opposed to natural ones. The period of growing individualisation means we are reflexive (aware of our own risks and make correct choices) this means we are risk concious. Criticisms of Late modernity - correct answer We aren't all free to make individual choices. Capitalism is the source of risk no science and technology. Harvey and Jameson - correct answer Marxist postmodernists - capitalism has pushed us into post modernity not globalisation, this was caused by a crisis of capitalism meaning we need a new way to make profit. Flexible accumulation (Workers adapting for employers making niche goods for niche markets or a move from fordism to post fordism) This stimulates consumption and leads to a pick and mix identity as we have more choice in products. This creates a fragmentation of culture and the death of large scale political movements such as socialism, this makes political knowledge and progress Criticisms of marxist postmodernists - correct answer Have abandoned marxist roots and how