Cara Ketcham
Blog Postmodernism
When understanding a society or understanding the evolution of a society you can look at it as one of these ways: traditional, modern, or postmodern. Traditional is a society that is typically smaller, uses mechanical solidarity, and has an emphasis on the local. Modern is a more advanced society that uses advanced technology and has an emphasis on industrialization, science and certainty. Postmodernism is considered deindustrialization and having a more service based or knowledge based society. A postmodern society is characterized as having a heightened level of uncertainty, ambivalence, globalization and the hyperreal. The hyperreal is a term used by Baudrillard, which he defines as “the product of an irradiating synthesis of combinatory models in a hyperspace without atmosphere”. This may sound confusing but all it really means is that the hyperreal is what we consider as reality, but really isn’t. It when we can’t recognize the difference of reality with a simulation of reality. The example Baudrillard gives is Disney World. It’s a make believe land, but when we are there we have the understanding that it is reality. Another example would be a reality television show like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. They depict these ladies running around fighting with each other, having lavish parties, buying beautiful clothes and homes and not having a care in the world except for their petty dramas. In fact when they do have serious issues, like Taylor’s husband’s suicide or Adrianne’s very ugly divorce, it is glossed over and certain details are not exposed in an effort not to break this hyperreality. In order to get everyone to buy into this franchise, they create this “imaginary world” where life is one big, expensive, cocktail party.
There are also different positions on the postmodern world. The first one is extreme postmodernity. This is where the society has been completely replaced by the postmodern world. Then there is radicalized modernity. This is when modernity gets continually replaced over and over again. Lastly, there is dialectical opposition which is where there are limits to modernity highlighted by the postmodern world. Of these three I feel like we live in a society that fits the characteristic of dialectical opposition the best. I feel like there is a reason that classical theory can still be relevant today, and that is because there are limits to postmodernity. Postmodernity really only characterizes first-world countries and even then, there are different regions in that country that may live a more traditional or modern way of life. Plus, from my understanding, with postmodernity you don’t have to believe or buy into the simulation of reality. Let’s say you live on a self-sustaining farm in rural America, and don’t’ watch T.V. or travel. You would probably completely disagree that this is a postmodern society. This shows a limit to postmodernism and makes it more of a choice to participate in it.
From reading about postmodernism, I have been having trouble deciding on whether this is a negative or positive thing or maybe neither, just a different era for society. I think only time will tell what kind of consequence there might be and also, what type of society postmodernism could lead to.
Blog Postmodernism
When understanding a society or understanding the evolution of a society you can look at it as one of these ways: traditional, modern, or postmodern. Traditional is a society that is typically smaller, uses mechanical solidarity, and has an emphasis on the local. Modern is a more advanced society that uses advanced technology and has an emphasis on industrialization, science and certainty. Postmodernism is considered deindustrialization and having a more service based or knowledge based society. A postmodern society is characterized as having a heightened level of uncertainty, ambivalence, globalization and the hyperreal. The hyperreal is a term used by Baudrillard, which he defines as “the product of an irradiating synthesis of combinatory models in a hyperspace without atmosphere”. This may sound confusing but all it really means is that the hyperreal is what we consider as reality, but really isn’t. It when we can’t recognize the difference of reality with a simulation of reality. The example Baudrillard gives is Disney World. It’s a make believe land, but when we are there we have the understanding that it is reality. Another example would be a reality television show like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. They depict these ladies running around fighting with each other, having lavish parties, buying beautiful clothes and homes and not having a care in the world except for their petty dramas. In fact when they do have serious issues, like Taylor’s husband’s suicide or Adrianne’s very ugly divorce, it is glossed over and certain details are not exposed in an effort not to break this hyperreality. In order to get everyone to buy into this franchise, they create this “imaginary world” where life is one big, expensive, cocktail party.
There are also different positions on the postmodern world. The first one is extreme postmodernity. This is where the society has been completely replaced by the postmodern world. Then there is radicalized modernity. This is when modernity gets continually replaced over and over again. Lastly, there is dialectical opposition which is where there are limits to modernity highlighted by the postmodern world. Of these three I feel like we live in a society that fits the characteristic of dialectical opposition the best. I feel like there is a reason that classical theory can still be relevant today, and that is because there are limits to postmodernity. Postmodernity really only characterizes first-world countries and even then, there are different regions in that country that may live a more traditional or modern way of life. Plus, from my understanding, with postmodernity you don’t have to believe or buy into the simulation of reality. Let’s say you live on a self-sustaining farm in rural America, and don’t’ watch T.V. or travel. You would probably completely disagree that this is a postmodern society. This shows a limit to postmodernism and makes it more of a choice to participate in it.
From reading about postmodernism, I have been having trouble deciding on whether this is a negative or positive thing or maybe neither, just a different era for society. I think only time will tell what kind of consequence there might be and also, what type of society postmodernism could lead to.