‘Society has now entered a new, postmodern age and we need new theories to understand it’. Assess this view.

Modernist theories (e.g. Marxism) are part of the Enlightenment project – the idea that through reason and science, we can discover true knowledge and progress to a better society. Modern society emerged from the late 18th century. Its characteristics include the nation state; capitalism; mass production; scientific thinking; technology; individualism and the decline of tradition. These all link together, for example science and technology are vital to the development of mass production.

Many sociologists argue we now live in a global village due to globalisation. Globalisation is the growing interconnectedness of societies and is occurring for several reasons. Firstly, technological changes, such as the internet, have created time-space compression. Beck argues that we are now living in a ‘global risk society’ where the threats to our well-being are increasingly coming from human-made technology rather than natural disasters. Secondly, economic activities are dominated by global networks and transnational companies (TNCs) have grown and drive globalisation forward. Thirdly, the fall in communism and the growth of transnational bodies have created opportunities for global capitalism. Lastly, changes in culture and identity makes it harder for cultures to exist in isolation as most have become westernised. Globalisation therefore undermines traditional sources of identity. Economic integration also encourages a global culture as TNCs selling the same consumer goods in may countries promotes similar taste across national borders. These rapid changes linked to globalisation have led to questions such as what kind of society do we live in and what theory can explain today’s society?

For postmodernists, we now live in a new era: postmodernity. Postmodern society is a fundamental break with modernity and requires a new kind of theory to explain it. Postmodernists argue there are no objective criteria to prove whether a theory is true and any theory, like Marxism, who claim to have the truth are just meta-narratives. Instead, postmodernists take the relativist view that all views are true for those who hold them. Therefore, we should celebrate the diversity of views rather than to seek to impost one version of the truth. Lyotard has come to the conclusion that knowledge is just a series of ‘language games’ and postmodernity allows marginalized groups, such as women and ethnic minorities, to be heard.

In postmodern society, Baudrillard argues the media’s signs appear more real than reality itself, leaving us unable to distinguish image from reality. Similarly, Lyon explains how religious signs and symbols have become detached from their place in religious institutions and into technology. Baudrillard describes this as simulacra, and calls this situation hyper-reality because if we cannot even grasp reality, we have lost the power to change it making the Enlightenment project unachievable. The media produces an endless stream of images, making culture

unstable and fragmented there is no longer a coherent set of shared values. People now cease to believe any one version of the truth. Identity therefore becomes destabilized: we can change it simply by chaning out consumption patterns, picking and mixing media-produced images to define ourselves.

Postmodernism have been criticised by Marxists for ignoring the ruling class’ use of the media as a tool of ideological domination. Also, it is wrong to claim people cannot distinguish between reality and media image and by assuming all views are equally true, it becomes just as valid to deny the Nazis murdered millions as to affirm it. Moreover, there is a logical flaw in the theory – it claims that no theory is truer than any other, so why should we believe its claims are true?

Unlike postmodernism, theories of late modernity (TLM) subscribe to the Enlightenment project and argue that today’s rapid changes are not the dawn of a new, postmodern era, but a continuation of modern society. We are now in a late or high modernity and key features of modernity have now become intensified; e.g. change has always been typical of modern society, but now it has gone into overdrive.

Giddens notes high modernity has two key features, which encourage globalisation and rapid change. Firstly, Giddens defines disembedding as ‘the lifting out of social relations from local contexts of interaction’. Factors such as credit break down geographical barriers and make interaction more impersonal. Because tradition therefore no longer tells us how to act, we are forced to become reflexive – to reflect on and modify our actions in the light of information about risks. This means we are continually re-evaluating our ideas. Under these conditions, culture becomes increasingly stable. According to Giddens, we now face new high consequence risks such as environmental harm. Beck calls these ‘manufactured risks’ as they result from technology – Beck explains how such risks also increase the amount of green crime as the increasing in technology have harmed the environment.

However, unlike postmodernists, Giddens and Beck believe we can make rational plans based on objective knowledge to reduce these risks and achieve progress. But, not everyone can re-shape their lives after reflecting on the risks they face; e.g. poor people who live in polluted areas cannot afford to move to a healthier area. Marxists, such as Rustin, also criticise TLM for ignoring the fact it is capitalism is the source of risk, not technology whilst Hirst argues movements like environmentalism will not bring about change because they are too fragmented to challenge capitalism.

Like Beck and Giddens, but unlike postmodernists, Marxists Jameson and Harvey believe in the Enlightenment project of achieving objective knowledge to improve society. However, they agree with postmodernists that we have moved from modernity to postmodernity but rather than seeing this as a new type of society, Marxists see it as merely the most recent stage of capitalism.

Postmodernity arose out of the capitalist crisis of the 1970s, which gave rise to a new way of achieving profitability, which Harvey calls flexible accumulation (FA). FA involves the use of ICT, an expanded service and finance sector, job insecurity and working ‘flexibly’ to fit employers’ needs. This ties in with the idea that Western TNCs switch manufacturing to Third World countries where impoverished peasants are flexible, increasing profit for the capitalist class. It involved production of customized products for ‘niche’ markets and brings many of the features and postmodernity. These changes brought many of the cultural characteristics of postmodernity, such as diversity, choice and instability. For example, customized products promote cultural diversity; leisure and identity become commodities produced for profit; ICT creates time-space compression. FA also brings political changes, especially the weakening of the working-class movement. In its place, a variety of oppositional movements emerge, such as feminism and environmentalism. Marx believed that progress would be achieved by working-class revolution. By accepting that opposition to capitalism has fragmented into many movements, Marxist theories of postmodernity abandon this possibility.

In conclusion, the nation-state is the focal point of modern society, but with globalisation, this is undermined. Technological, economic, political and cultural changes are creating a ‘global village’. Postmodernists argue that these changes indicate the arrival of postmodern society, which is unstable, fragmented and media-saturated. Postmodernists reject the possibility of progress and meta-narratives but by contrast, Beck and Giddens argue rapid change is merely a characteristic of late modern society. Although, this is increasingly a risk society, they believe progress to a better society is still possible. Marxist theories of modernity argue that postmodernity is simply the latest phase of capitalism and a new means of achieving profit.