Modernity and Postmodern Culture af Jim McGuigan (Bog)

Modernity and Postmodern Culture is a critical introduction to claims concerning the postmodernization of culture and society Contemporary culture may be 'postmodern' in the sense of fluidity of meaning changing power relations and commodification in art entertainment and everyday life but modernity persists in the dynamics of capitalist civilisation aLBeit in an increasingly reflexive mode that is characterised by widespread uncertainty about social existence progress and rationality The theories of Baudrillard Beck Castells Giddens Habermas Haraway Jameson Lyotard and others on the contemporary scene are discussed and specific issues concerning architecture theme parks screen culture science technology and the environment are examined Jim McGuigan argues that there have been tensions between instrumental and critical reason throughout the history of modernity that are still being played out He questions the irrationalist tendencies and also the accommodative attitude to prevailing conditions of much postmodern thought and insists upon the enduring relevance of the Enlightenment tradition to social and cultural analysis Forlag: Open University Press