This lecture examines postmodernism and how it is understood in media theory

1. Lecture 6:
Postmodernism
“All that is solid melts into
air”
MS 2900 Exploring Media Theory
University of Winchester
Dr Marcus Leaning

2. • This week we are commence with the third of our
„big three‟ theoretical positions on the media -
postmodernism.
• As with Marxism and Feminism, postmodernism is
an approach that has affected many different fields
of study.
• As we will see it is also a direct challenge to
Marxist and Feminist analyses.
• It is a very significant approach in media theory.
• This week we will introduce some of the basic ideas
of postmodernism, then in the two following
lectures we will look at specific media theorists
whose work is associated with postmodernism.

3. • Before we go any further we need to look at
the word „post-modernism‟.
• Does it imply we are living beyond a certain
period or is it something else?
• Also is there a difference between
postmodernism and postmodernity?
• „Post‟ usually means after so what is the
„modernism‟ that postmodernism is after?

4. • Modernity is often used to refer to a particular
historical period that occurred from about 1750
through to about the 1970s(ish).
• Exact dates are debatable as –
◦ Modernity refers to a particular historical stage in world
history (and the emergence of global powers and conflicts)
◦ But these global changes relate to developments in
countries as they went through the transition from pre-
modern to modern states.
◦ So in the UK Modernity took place from 1750(ish) onwards
while in other parts of Europe it started slightly later, in
Japan it really got going with the Meiji Restoration (1868)
and some countries got much going later.

5. • A shift from the old „pre-modern‟ to a new
type of society.
• Partly technologically driven but changes in
society as well.
Pre modernity Modernity
Mode of production Agriculture based Industry based
Mode of distribution Feudalism Capitalism
Governance Hereditary Democracy / empire
Relations of Serfdom Wage labour
production
Belief Pre-science Scientific rationality
Association Tribes Nations
Communication Orality Literacy

6. • The new modern world generated
new types of culture that were
different from the culture of the
previous era.
◦ (see the similarity / contrast to
politic economic Marxist ideas on
cultural change here).
• Hence we get Modern Art (1860-
1950)- art that reflects the
preoccupation and concerns of
those living in Modernity
• We term such cultural
manifestations “Modernism” it is
the culture of modernity.
• Appears in different cultural forms.

7. • Since the 1970s there has been a further
change or shift in certain societies and new
systems have emerged.
Modernity Post Modernity
Mode of production Industry based Information based
Mode of distribution Capitalism Finance capitalism
Governance Democracy / empire Post colonial, UN,
post cold war,
Hegemon
Relations of Wage labour Flexible, share
Production holders
Belief Science Fractured systems
Association Nations Networks, anti-
systemic movements
Communication Literacy Multi-modality

8. • Postmodern culture is a reflection of this new world.
• BUT maybe the new world has also changed the direction of
the relationship! Maybe it now works in both directions with
culture changing material life…
• Perhaps the relationship of base to superstructure was
actually a consequence of modernity and not a universal
feature!
• Before: After:
Culture Culture
Social form Social form

9. • One key aspect of all this is the decline in certainty
and progress that underpinned much of modernity.
• Science has lost ground to alternative systems.
• Our belief in progress has been challenged –
• Neither socialism or capitalism seem to actually work that
well.
• In fact the only thing we now seem to be certain of
is that there is not a single answer…
• This has been termed an “incredulity towards
metanarratives” (Lyotard, 1979).
• Have we advanced at all in 400 years since
Descartes?

10. • We can detect 3 key trends in postmodern
culture:
1. Identity and difference
2. Fluidity of signs, meanings and markers
3. Development and power of ICTs

11. • Web live in a multi-cultural, cosmopolitan
environment.
• Music and culture from all over the world.
• International travel normal - gap years, migration,
working abroad.
• Social mobility - class, geography, lifestyle is
„normal‟.
• All these mean that the certainties we used to live
with that made us what we were are gone,
fractured.
• The fixed categories we used to placed ourselves
are now more fluid and are no longer immutable.

12. • In modern times categories of how
we defined ourselves and defined by
others were far more fixed.
• You WERE working class or middle
class and everyone knew the codes.
• You stayed that your whole life and
did not move.
• Now, movement is possible but also
the actual categories themselves are
constantly challenged, questioned,
broken down and redefined.
• For example, „being‟ a man is
constantly changing and moving,
masculinity is not static.

13. • The certainties of the modern world no
longer hold true.
• We are no longer made by the world, rather in
PM (or Late modernity) our identity and
lifestyle becomes a „project‟ (Giddens, 2002).
• We live „reflexively‟ – choosing and making
decisions about who we are, how others see
us and where we are.
• We are changed from just one person to
many roles - the fixed, centred „self‟ of the
modern world is damaged.

14. • Signs lose their fixity; they become unmoored
and are used in new, dynamic ways.
• The system of semiotics the way signs obtain
their meaning has been transformed or
accelerated - signs now shift in a complex
web of borrowing, montage, and ironic play.
• In this postmodern world, “image” can no
longer be contrasted with “reality”; image is
reality.

15. • In Modernism signs were fluid to a degree-
new signs emerged from old - however the
process of semiosis has become faster and
faster in postmodernism.
• But this process increased in speed and scale.
• There is a constant reuse of signs, knowingly
reusing our knowledge of existing signs to
create distance.
• In PM the signifer is detached and freed from
the signified much quicker and constantly
gets reused in ever more complex ways.

16. • Since 1970s incredible proliferation of
computers and technology throughout many
societies.
• Media culture becoming more integrated into
people‟s lives –mediatization of culture.
• New media have resulted in a drastic
transformation of culture.
• We live in an information age.

17. • Here, it is argued that the underlying
economic mode has shifted toward one in
which information becomes the primary
commodity, and its production, manipulation,
and usage becomes the focus of labour.
• Such a transformation in particular economies
contributes to increased “time-space
compression” - the way in which old notions
of distance and the problems they pose to
communication vanish.

18. • It now takes far less time to
travel around the world.
• Moreover, we can
communicate far quicker
than before.
• We now think in a far more
global sense aware of
problems and threats in a
way we simply were not
before.
• Additionally because of the
same process new threats
emerge – economic.

19. • Also challenge the hierarchical
structure of communications in
Modernity.
• Modernity used mass media -
those in power „broadcast‟ a
single message for many.
• With new media people engage
in consume broadcasting but
also engage in narrow casting,
peer-to-peer communication,
social media communication
between groups of people and
use networks that while small
span the globe.
• Indeed some argue we live in a
network society…

20. • All these factors mean our culture and
experience of culture is quite different from
that of our ancestors.
• Not only is the actual culture different, far
more multicultural, far more fluid and
changing, but the way we experience it is
different.
• This applies not just to the media used but
the mechanics of how it interacts with us.

21. • Culture in the postmodern world is different:
• more prolific,
• narrow band,
• less binary,
• faster.
• Also how we engage with culture has also
changed:
• New modes of consumption,
• New technologies of consumption,
• New activities of engagement with culture.

22. • Postmodernism is the culture of
postmodernity.
• Key feature is a rejection of old certainties
and even relativism.
• Three key aspects worth thinking about:
• Identity is different in the PM world,
• Signs are unfixed more than before,
• ICTs mean we live in an information age.
• Next week we look at the wacky words of
Marshal McLuhan.