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29 Cards in this Set
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What are modernist theories? |
Modernists theories are part of the enlightenment project-the idea that society can progess through the use of human reason. Part of the enlightement project- rationality and scice will enable us to discover true knowledge about the world. With this knowledge, we can progress to a future of freedom and prosperity. |
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Since modern society first emerged in Western Europe , it has had a number of characteristics that distinguished it from previous traditional societies, such as? |
The nation state Capiatalism Inidividualism rationality, science , technology |
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What do we mean when we refer to the nation state? |
The Nation state is he key political unit in modern society- a bounded terrirory ruled by a poweful centraslised state whos population usually shares the same language and culture. We tend to think of the modern world as made up of series of sperate societies, each with its own state. The state is the focal point of modern society, organising social life on a national basis. Modern states have created large administrative beurocracies and educational welfare and legal institutions to regulate citizens lives. The nation-state is also an imporant source of identity for citizens , who identify with the symbols of such a flag. |
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What do we mean when we refer to capitalism? |
Capitalism- The economy of modern societies is capiatlism- based on privae ownership of the means of production and the use of wage labourers. Capitalism brough about the industrialisationof modern society, with huge increases in wealth. However, welath distibution is unequal, resulting in class conflct. the nation state becomes important in regulating capitalism and maintaining the conditions under which it operates . Scott Lash and John Urry describe this as 'organised capitalism'. In the modern industry, protection is organised on Fordist priniples (after the Frod Motor company's system): the mass production of standardised products in large factories, using low skilled labour. Cheap, mass production consumer goods lead to this rising standard of living. |
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What do we mean by rationality , science and technology? |
rationality, science and technology- Rational , secular, scientific ways of thinking dominate and influence of magico-religious explactions of the world declines. Technically efficient forms of organisation, such as burocracies and facroties, dominate social and econmic life. Sciece beomce increasingly imporant in industry, medicine and communincations.
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What do we mean by individualism? |
Traditional , custom and ascribed status becomes less importanct as the basis for out actions. We experience greater personal freedon and can inceasingly choose our own life course and our own identity. However, structural inequalities , such as class remain imporant in shaping peoples identity and restricting their choices. |
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What factors have brough about globalisation? |
1) Technological cahnges 2) Ecomonic changes 3) politcal changes 4) changes in culture and identity |
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What do we mean by technological changes and what does Ulrich Beck say about this? |
We can now exchange infomation more fast and diectly with the development of the internet. Sattalite communications, the internet and global telivion networks have helped to create time-space compression, closing distances between people. Technology also brings risks on a global scale. e.g greenhouse gases produced in one place contribute to global climate chang that leads to the sea rising meaning low level countires are flooded. Ulrick Beck (1992) aruges that we are now living in a 'risk society' , where increasingly the threats to out well being come from human made technology rather than natural disasters.. |
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What do we mean by economic changes? Whar does Leslie Sklair say> |
Economic factors play a large role in globalisation- economic activity now takes place within a set of global networks that are creating an ever-greater interconnectness. The global economy is increasinlt weightless or electornic economy. Insteas of producing psysical goods, much activity not involves the production of infomration, such as music Tv Programmes and data processing, Therse are produced and distibuted through global electoronic networks. In the electronic economy , money never sleeps. Global 24 house financial permit the instetanious transfer of funds around the world in persuit of profit. This too contibutes to the 'risk society'. Another major economic force pushing globalisation forwars is transnational companies that operate on a global scale e.g coca-cola, which are colosol enterprises, with the largest 500 together account for half the total value of all comodities produced in the whole world. So, powerful are the small elite who control these compaies that Leslie Sklair (2003) argues that they now form a separate global capitalist class. |
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Political changes? |
Some sociologists claim that globalisation has undermined the power of the national- state. E.g Kenichi Ohme (1994) argues that we now live in a borderless world in which TNCs and consumers have more economic power than national governments. States are now less able to regulate the activities of large capitalist enterprises, a sitution Lash and Urry describe and 'disorganised capitalism'. |
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changes in culture and identity? |
Globalisation makes it much harder for cultures to exist in isolation from one another. A major reason for this is the role of infomation and communication technology, especially the mass media. Today we find ourselves living in a global culture in which western owed media comapnies spreas Westen Culture to the rest of the world. Econmic inegration also encourages a global culture, e.g TNC's like Nike are selling the same consumer goods in many countries, help promote similar tastes across boarders. In addition, the increased movement of people as tourists , economic migrants refugees and asylum seekers helps create global culture. Globalisation also undermines tradditional sources of identity such as class. e.g the shift of manufacturing from the West to developing countries has led to the framentation and decline of working class communities that previously gave people theit class identities. |
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What is postmodernism? |
A major intellecutal movement that has emerged since the 1970's. I has been influential in many areas, including sociology. Postmodernists argue that we are now living in an era of postmodernity. Postmodernty is an unstable, fragmented, media-saturated global village, where image and reality are indistinguishable. In postmodern society we distingush ourselves by what we consume. It is not a continuation of modernity, but with a fundemental break of it. For postmodernists this is a new kind of society that needs a new kind of theory- modernty no longer applies. |
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Drawing on the ideas of Michel Foulcalt , was do postimodernists argue? |
1) There are no sure foundations to knowledge- no objetive criteria we can use to say if a theory is true of false ,this is known as anto, foundationalism. 2) The enlightenment project of achiving porgess through true, scientific knowledge is dead. If we cannot guarentee our knowledge is correct, we cannot use it to improve society. 2) Any all embracing theory that claims truth is nothing more than a meta-narratie e.g marxism is a meta-narrative (big story), postmodernists reject marxism on the grounds that former attmpts to impose marxist vverions of the truth had led to oppresion e.g the soviet union that led to political oppresion and slave labour camps. |
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What does it mean when people say that postmodernists take a relaivist postivion? |
Rejecting meta-narratives that claim absolute turth, post-modernists take a relativist position. that is , they argue that all views are true for those who hold them. No one has speial access to the truth, including sociologists. All accounts of reality are equally valid. we should therfore celebrate the diversity of views rather than seek to impose one verion on the truth on everyone. |
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Wat did Jean-Francois Lyotard (1992) say? |
Accoring to Jean-Francois Lyotard (1992), in postmodern society, knowledge is just a series of different 'language games' , or ways of seeing the world. However , in his view, postmodern society , with all its competing views of the truth, is prefferable to modern society, where meta-narriatives claimed monopoly on truth and sometimes sought to impose it by force, as in the soviet union. Postmodernity allows groups who have been ,arginalised by modern society, such as ethnic minories and women to be heard. |
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What does Jean Baudrillard (1983) argue? |
Jean Baudrillard 1983, argues that knowledge is central to postmodern society. He agues that society is no longer based on the production of material goods, but rather on buying and selling knowledge in the form of images and signs. However, unlike signs in past socieites, those today bear no relation to physical reaisty. Intead, signs stand for nothin other than themselves- they are not symbols from bothing other than themselves- they are not symbols of some other real thing. Baudrillard calls signs simulacra (singular: sumularcum). For example , tabloid newspaper articles are fictitous soap opera characters are 'signs about signs' rather than about underlying reality. Boudrillard describes this sitation as hyper- reality : where the signs appear more real than the thing itself and substitute themselves for reality. However , because the signs do not represent anything real , they are litreally meaningless, In this respect, Baudrill is particualry critical of telivision, which he sees as the main source of simulacra and of our ability to distingish between image and reality. |
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What do postmodernists say about , culture, identity and politics? |
Postmodernists- culture and identity in a postmodern society differs from that of a modern society, especially because of the role of the media in creating hyper-reality. The media are pervading and they produce an endless stream of ever changing images, values and versions of the truth. As a result, culture becomes fragmented and unstangle, so that there is no longer a coherent or fixed set of values shared by members of society. The bewildering array of different messages and ideas undermines peoples faith in meta-narraties. Confronted by so may diffrerent versions of the truth, people cease to belive whole heartedly one version . Furthermore, given the failure of mata-narratives such as mrxism to deliver a better society, peoples lose faith in the possibiliy of rational progress. In postmodernity, identity also becomes destabalised. Fot example , insteas of a fixed identity ascribed by class, we can now construct our own identity from a wide range of images and lifestyles on offer in the media. We can easily change our identity simply be changing our consumption patterns- picking and mixing cultural goods and media-produced images to define ourselves. |
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Why id Baudrillard pessimistic of the modern condition? |
Boudrillard is pesimistic of the modern condition . Media-created hyper reality leaves us unable to distinguish image from reality. This means that we have lost the power to improve society: if we cannot even grasp reality then we have no power to change it. Political activity to improve the world is impossible, so the central goal of the enlighenment project is un-achievable. |
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From The Marxists persepctive , how do Philo and Miller 2001 critique post-modernism? |
1) It ignores power and inequlity . E.g. the idea that media images are unconnected with reality , ignores the ruling class use of the media dominatin. 2) the claim that we freely construct our identities through consumptioon overlooks the effect of poverty in restricing oppitunities. 3) Postmodernists are simply wrong to claim that people cannot distinguish between reality and media imge. 4) By assuming all views are equally true, it becomes just as valid to deny that the Nazis murdered millions as it does to affairm it. This is a morally indefensable position. |
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How doe Best and Keller critique postmodernism? |
Best and Keller (1991) point out that postmodernism is a particuarly weak theory : while it identifies important features of today's society , such as mass media consumtionn, it fails to fay how this came about. |
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How does David Harvey critique post modernism? |
He argues against postmodernists critical view of the enlightenment project, he argues that political decisions do make a real difference to peoples lives and that knowledge can be used to solve human problems. Even if out theories cannot guarentee absolute truth, many sociologists argue that they are at least an approximation to do do. As such , they are the best guide we have to imporoving the world. While postmodernity has identified some important features of today's society, it is poorly equipped to explain them. By constast, recent sociological theories have offered more satisfacory expalanations of the changes to society . |
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What does Micheal Foucault say about the world? |
Michel Foucalt (1979) sees a discourse as a set of ideas that have become established as knowledge or a way of thinking and seeing the worlds. When we use discourse it makes us see things in a particular wat , and so is not only a form of knowledge, but also a form of domination- Foucault describes discourse as power/ knowledge. For example ,view madness as a formed by the discourse of psychiatry, which describes it using terms such as 'sychizophrenia'. By constrast in the past when religious discourse was dominant, madness was seen as a possession by spirits'. Accepting psychiatic discourse allows us to belice that madness is the absense of rationallity, when in the past it was seen as a divine gift. Although psychiatric discourse has now largely displaced relgious discourse, this does not make it truer. Discourses are simply different and we cannot judge between them: truth is relative - each discourse is true for those who belive it and false for those who don't . There is no objective way of judging between opposed claims to knowledge. This kills of the enlightenment project, which depends on the idea that we can achive progress by discovering true knowledge and using it to improve the world. For Foucault , there can be no progress, since out knowledge is no truer anoyone elses. New knowledge is not progress, just a new form of deonomination. |
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What do we mean by theories of late modernity? |
Unlike pstmodernists, theories of late modernity argue that rapid cahnges we are witnessing are not the dawn on the new , postmodern era. On the contraryy, these cahnges are actually the continuation of modernity itself. However, these theories of lare modernity do recognise that something important is happening. In their view, ket featues of modernity that were always present have been intensified. e.g social change has always been a feature of modern society , but not the pace of change has gone into overdrive. In other words, we are still within modernity, but we have entered its late phase. In this view, if we are still in the modern era, then the theories of modernist sociology are still useful. Unlike postmodernism , theories of late modernity do subscribe to the enlightenment project- they still belive that we can discover objective knowledge and use it to imporove society. |
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What did Giddens say about late modernity and reflxivity? |
According to Giddens , we are now in the late stage of high modernity. A defining characteristic of modern society is that it experiences rapid change- often on a global scale. This is because of two key fatures of modernity: Disembedding and reflexivity. GIddens defines disembedding as 'the limit out of social relations from local contexts of interaction. In oteher words, today we no longer need face to face contact in oder to interact- diembaeddding breaks doen georgraphical barriers and makes interactional more impersonal. Because of high modernity , tradditional ciston has become much less important and no longer serves as a guide to how we should act, and become more individualistic. e.g sons are no longer expected to follow the same occupation as their fathers and are free to do their own thing. Because taddition no loner tells us how to act , we are forced to become relexive. That is, we have to constantly monitor, reflect on and modify our actions in the light of information about the possible risks and oppotrunities that they might involve. refelxivity means we are constantly re-evaluating our ideas and theories- nothing is fixed or perminet , everything is up for challenge. Under these conditions. culture in lare modern society becomes increasingly untable and subject to change. Together , disembedding and refleviity account for the rapid and widespread change in high modernity. In particular, by enabling social interation to spread rapidly across the globe, they help to drive gloabalisation. According to Goddens. in late modernity we face a number of high conesquence risks- major threats to human society. These include militiary risks such as nuclear war , economic risks such as the instablility of the capitalist economy, enviromental risks such as global warming, and threats to our freedom from increased state suvellience. All of these are 'manufactured'and human made rather than natural risks. However, Giddens rejects the postmodernist view that we cannot intervene to imporve things. He belives we can make rational plans to reduce these risks to improve society, |
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What did Beck say about Risk society? (late modernity) |
Like Giddens, Ulrick Beck is in the enlightenment traddition. That is, he belives in the power of reason to create a better world. However, he belives that todays late modern society- which he calls 'risk society'faces new kinds of dangers 1) In the past society faced natural issues such as drought ,faminine and disease. 2) today, the dangers we face are manfufactured risks resulting from human activities, such as global warming. Also like Giddens, Beck sees late modernity as a period of growing industrialisation, in which has become increasigly reflective . Traddition no longer governs how we act. As a result, we have to thingk for ourselves and reflect of the possible consequences of our actions. This means that we are contantly taking into accont the risks of our actions , Beck coined this refelctive modernisation. As a result , 'risk conscoiusness'becomes increasingly central to out culture- we become more aware of the percived risks and seek to avoide or minimise them. e.g we read of the dangers and seek to minimise them e.g of eating habits. However a great deal of knowledge aabout risks comes from out mass media, wich often gives a distorted view of the dangers we fact. Postmodernists such as Burillard reject enlightnement , with the belief that the possiblity of proggree through action based on rational knowledge. Beck disagrees with this positiion. Although he is skeptical about scientific progress because of the risks it had brought, he still belives in our ability to overcome the. Because of our reflexivity and ability to evaluate risks and overcome them through taking political action. Beck argues that political action and enviromentalism is the way we challenge the direction of techological development. |
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Evaluation of Late modernity theories, what does Mike Rustin argue, 1994? |
Mike Rustin (1994) argues that it is capialism, with its persuit of profit at all costs , that is the source of risk , not technology as such. |
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Evaluation of Late modernity theories, what does Paul Hirst argue?
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Paul Hirst- rejects Becks's view that moevements suh as envoromentalism will bring about significant change , because they are too fragmented to change capitalism. |
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Marxist theories of postmodenity> |
Like Beck and Giddens , Marxists belive in the enlightenment project of achiving objective knowledge using it to improve society. For example , Marx calimed that his theory showed how working -class revolution could overthrow capitalism and bring an end to explotation. However Fredrick James (1984) and David Harvey (1989) ? |
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What did Fredrick Jamerson and 1984 and David Harvey 1989 (Marxists argue)? |
Fredrick James and David Harvey !984 and 1989, belive that today's society had indeed moved from modernty to post modernty. They agree with Postmodernists that there have been major changes in society, and they describe postmodern culture in similar terms and Giddens and Beck, emphasising the importance of media images , diversity and instability. However, Marxists offer a very different yanalysis of postmodernity to Lytard ad Baudrillard. Rather than seeing postmodernity as a fundemental break with the past, Marxists regard it as merely the product of the most recent stage of capialism . To understand Postmodernity, therefore the must examine its relationship with capitalism. For Harvey , capitalism is a synamic system , constsntly developing new technologies and ways of organising production to make profits. However , capitalism is prone to period crises of profiticality , and these produce major changes. Postmodernity arose out os the capitalist crisis of the 1970s , whch saw the end of a long economic boom that had lasted since 1945. This crisis gave rise to a new regime of accumuliation- a new way of achiving profitablity, which Harvey descrives as 'flexible accumulation'or post fordism. This replaced the more rigid pre- 1970s fordist mass production system. Flexible accumlation involves the use of infomation technology, and expanded service in the finance sector , job insecurity and the requitrement for workers to be flexible to fit their employers needs. It permits the production of customised products for small, 'niche' markets instead of standardised products of mass markets, and easy switcchig from producing one product to producing another. These changes brought many of the cultural characeristics of post-modernity , such as diveristy, choice and instability, e.g the customisation of products for niche markets promotes cultural divesity. 2) Easy switching of production from one product to another encourages constsnt shifts in fashion. Flexible accumiunlation also brought about changes in consumption, it turned leisure, culture and identity into comodities. Cultural products such as musci and fashion have become important sources of profit. As Jamerson argues, postmodernity represents a more developed form of capitalism because it comodifies virtually all aspects of life, including our identities. Harvey argues that this more developed form of capitalism also leads to another feature of postmodernity- the compression of time and dpace. The commodification of cultue (e.g foreign holidays), the creation of worldwide financial markets and communications technology , all serve to shrink the globe. Harvey and Jamerson argue that flexible accumulation brough political changes . In particular it has weakended the working class and socialist movements. In their place, a veriety of oppositional movements have emerged, such as enviromentalism, womens liberation , anti-racism ect, Harvey and Jamerson are hopeful that new social movements can form an allience to bring about change. Thus marxist theories of postmodernity agree with postmodernists that we have moved from modernity to postmodernity. However , as Best adn Keller note, they differ from postmodernists in 2 ways 1) They remain failthful to marxist theory in explaining such changes 2) They argue that the goal of the enlightenment project can still change society for the better. |
