Manuel
Andres Beltran
SOC
385_blog#8
Post-modernity which began back in the 1960’s is the period which came
after modern society. Modern society was the negation of the traditional. This
new era or period focuses on cultural products such as literature and the arts.
It is also considered the deindustrialization of society and of having more of
service based knowledge in society. This new way of thinking has a higher level
of uncertainty, ambivalence, hyper real, and globalization. There are 3
post-modern positions. The first is extreme post-modernity which is the radical
rupture from modern society. The second is a radicalized modernity which
according to Giddens means that while changes take place, post-modernity is
continually extended from modernity. Third is dialectical opposition to
modernity which comes from Bauman. This says that there are limits to modernity
and some of them come from the post-modern
world.
The second position of post-modernity by Giddens, radicalized modernity
seems to apply to many of us every day. One of the things Giddens talks about is
globalization and how this causes us to have more connections with each other
in the post-modern world. Two concepts or radicalized modernity are time and
space, and trust. The first set means that time and space (or in this case
distance) have a much different meaning to us than they did say even 20 years
ago. As a result of the internet and being able to share information
electronically, time and space can vary in meaning from case to case. Trust in
this situation also means that individuals must now rely on these new systems
and depend on their proper functioning.
An example of this is online shopping. I will use my recent
experience ordering products online. I recently ordered a shaving oil/gel
because I could only get it from this shop downtown and did not want to drive
and park there or take the train. So I went online to the website and ordered it
because I could choose the amount, see if there was anything I wanted and do it
all in real time. I remembered how as a kid whenever I ordered things from a
store (I did not have internet at the time) or wanted something from somewhere
far I would order from a catalog. However this would take weeks sometimes since
I would either have to fill out the form, mail it to the store or warehouse and
wait however number of weeks to receive my package. At best I could call the
store and place my order over the phone and if I had a credit card, have my
package shipped then. Otherwise I would have to wait until they received my
payment/order. Another thing I noticed was that back then, I could only choose
from the products the catalog had printed as opposed to online shopping where
you can pick what color you want something, and every product the store
sells.
Trust plays a role in this as well since people must trust that
the site is safe to enter their credit card information into and give a “screen”
their valuable private information. The other aspect where trust plays a role is
in the delivery of these products. Because everything is now run off of
electronic mediums, if something goes wrong or a package is misplaced, it may be
difficult locating it if it is not tagged properly by the system. In my case my
package was lost and now I must wait until they restock because the store had
forgot to update their site and mention they were out of stock. I cannot do
anything about this until I get the package since I already paid for it and the
warehouse is now shipping it to me.
I think this new system is helpful to some extent since it makes
things much more convenient. However trust is still an issue that many people
struggle with not only because it can be inconvenient but dangerous as well in
situations where people get their information stolen from electronic
databases.
Andres Beltran
SOC
385_blog#8
Post-modernity which began back in the 1960’s is the period which came
after modern society. Modern society was the negation of the traditional. This
new era or period focuses on cultural products such as literature and the arts.
It is also considered the deindustrialization of society and of having more of
service based knowledge in society. This new way of thinking has a higher level
of uncertainty, ambivalence, hyper real, and globalization. There are 3
post-modern positions. The first is extreme post-modernity which is the radical
rupture from modern society. The second is a radicalized modernity which
according to Giddens means that while changes take place, post-modernity is
continually extended from modernity. Third is dialectical opposition to
modernity which comes from Bauman. This says that there are limits to modernity
and some of them come from the post-modern
world.
The second position of post-modernity by Giddens, radicalized modernity
seems to apply to many of us every day. One of the things Giddens talks about is
globalization and how this causes us to have more connections with each other
in the post-modern world. Two concepts or radicalized modernity are time and
space, and trust. The first set means that time and space (or in this case
distance) have a much different meaning to us than they did say even 20 years
ago. As a result of the internet and being able to share information
electronically, time and space can vary in meaning from case to case. Trust in
this situation also means that individuals must now rely on these new systems
and depend on their proper functioning.
An example of this is online shopping. I will use my recent
experience ordering products online. I recently ordered a shaving oil/gel
because I could only get it from this shop downtown and did not want to drive
and park there or take the train. So I went online to the website and ordered it
because I could choose the amount, see if there was anything I wanted and do it
all in real time. I remembered how as a kid whenever I ordered things from a
store (I did not have internet at the time) or wanted something from somewhere
far I would order from a catalog. However this would take weeks sometimes since
I would either have to fill out the form, mail it to the store or warehouse and
wait however number of weeks to receive my package. At best I could call the
store and place my order over the phone and if I had a credit card, have my
package shipped then. Otherwise I would have to wait until they received my
payment/order. Another thing I noticed was that back then, I could only choose
from the products the catalog had printed as opposed to online shopping where
you can pick what color you want something, and every product the store
sells.
Trust plays a role in this as well since people must trust that
the site is safe to enter their credit card information into and give a “screen”
their valuable private information. The other aspect where trust plays a role is
in the delivery of these products. Because everything is now run off of
electronic mediums, if something goes wrong or a package is misplaced, it may be
difficult locating it if it is not tagged properly by the system. In my case my
package was lost and now I must wait until they restock because the store had
forgot to update their site and mention they were out of stock. I cannot do
anything about this until I get the package since I already paid for it and the
warehouse is now shipping it to me.
I think this new system is helpful to some extent since it makes
things much more convenient. However trust is still an issue that many people
struggle with not only because it can be inconvenient but dangerous as well in
situations where people get their information stolen from electronic
databases.