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Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, Philosophy , Architecture , Art , Literature , and Culture , which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, Modernism . Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated Pomoother spellings are ''Po-Mo'', ''PoMo'', The Po-Mo Page , MN Uni lecture notes , Mizrach, Sociology Miami University ) was originally a reaction to Modernism (not "post" in the purely temporal sense of "after"). Largely influenced by the disillusionment induced by the Second World War , postmodernism tends to refer to a cultural, intellectual, or artistic state lacking a clear central hierarchy or organizing principle and embodying extreme complexity, contradiction, ambiguity, diversity, and interconnectedness or interreferentiality.http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/technoculture/pomo.html Postmodernity is a derivative referring to non-art aspects of history that were influenced by the new movement, namely the evolutions in society, economy and culture since the 1960s.Britannica, 2004. When the idea of a reaction to - or even a rejection of - the movement of Modernism (a late 19th, early 20th centuries art movement) was borrowed by other fields, it became Synonymous in some contexts with postmodernity. The term is closely linked with '' Poststructuralism '' (cf. Jacques Derrida ) and with modernism, in terms of a rejection of its bourgeois, elitist culture.Wagner, British, Irish and American Literature, Trier 2002, p. 210-2 The term was coined in 1949 to describe a dissatisfaction with Modern Architecture , leading to the Postmodern Architecture movement.Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004. Later, the term was applied to several movements, including in art, music, and literature, that reacted against modern movements, and are typically marked by revival of traditional elements and techniques.Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 2004 Postmodernism In Architecture is marked by the re-emergence of surface ornament, reference to surrounding buildings in urban architecture, historical reference in decorative forms, and non-orthogonal angles. It may be a response to the modernist architectural movement known as the International Style . If used in other contexts, it is a concept without a universally accepted, short and simple definition; in a variety of contexts it is used to describe social conditions, movements in the arts, and scholarship (incl. criticism) in ''reaction to Modernism ''. INFLUENCE AND DISTINCTION FROM POSTMODERNITY Postmodernist ideas in the arts have influenced Philosophy and the analysis of Culture and Society , expanded the importance of Critical Theory , and been the point of departure for works of Literature , Architecture , and Design , as well as being visible in marketing/business and the interpretation of History , Law and Culture , starting in the late 20th Century . These developments — re-evaluation of the entire Western value system ( Love , Marriage , Popular Culture , shift from Industrial to Service Economy ) that took place since 1950/1960, with a peak in the Social Revolution of 1968 — are described with the term '' Postmodernity '', as opposed to the " -ism " referring to an opinion or movement. As something being "postmodernist" would be part of the movement, "postmodern" would refer to aspects of the period of the time since the 1950s , a part of Contemporary History ; still both terms may be synonymous under some circumstances. OVERVIEW Postmodernism is a movement of ideas arising from, but also critical of elements of Modernism . Because of the wide range of uses of the term, different elements of modernity are viewed as being coterminous; and different elements of modernity are held to be critiqued. Each of the different usages of 'postmodernism' is also inevitably related to some argument about the nature of knowledge, known in philosophy as Epistemology . Individuals who invoke the expression nowadays are implicitly arguing either that there is something fundamentally different about the transmission of meaning in postmodern works of art; or else that there inheres in modernism certain fundamental flaws in its epistemology. The argument against the need for the concept is that the "modern" era has not yet arrived at its term; and that the most important social and political project of our age remains modernism's project of replacing counter-enlightenment and emotionalist tendencies, as well as combating widesperead cultural ignorance, pervasive superstition, and mindless resistance to technological and social innovations. From this perspective, the realities of the modern era, and its philosophical underpinnings, are being challenged by a backlash from precisely that reactionary quarter against which modernism in fact began its initial late 19th-century crusade. On the other hand more nuanced non-postmodernist thinkers and writers (quoted below) hold that postmodernism is at best simply a period following upon modernism; a hybrid variety of it; or an extension of modernism into contemporary times; and therefore not a separate period or idea which represents a quantum leap from the theories of art familiar to us from Stravinsky , Mann , Kandinsky , Mondrian and Baudelaire . As with all questions of division, there is a range of viewpoints between the hardened extremes of declaring that modernity has been completely replaced, and the other which sees postmodernism as a useless term that describes nothing. However, the term applies particularly well to revisionist, and deconstructive literature and visual art. It is a contempoary evidence of what historians meant by Mannerism. Postmodernist scholars argue that a global, decentralized society such as ours inevitably creates responses/perceptions that are described as postmodern, such as the rejection of what are seen as the false, imposed unities of Meta-narrative and Hegemony ; the breaking of traditional frames of genre, structure and stylistic unity; and the overthrowing of categories that are the result of Logocentrism and other forms of artificially imposed order. Scholars who accept the division of postmodernity as a distinct period believe that society has collectively eschewed modern ideals and instead adopted ideas that are rooted in the reaction to the restrictions and limitations of those ideas, and that the present is therefore a new historical period. While the characteristics of postmodern life are sometimes difficult to grasp, most postmodern scholars point to concrete and visible technological and economic changes that they claim have brought about the new types of thinking. Critics of the idea claim that it does not represent liberation, but rather a failure of creativity, and the supplanting of organization with Syncretism and Bricolage ; this latter concept can only be described as anti-intellectual. They argue that postmodernism is obscurantist, overly dense, and makes assertions about the sciences that are demonstrably false. There is a great deal of disagreement over whether or not recent technological and cultural changes represent a new historical period, or merely an extension of the modern one. Complicating matters further, others have argued that even the postmodern era has already ended, with some commentators asserting culture has entered a Post-postmodern period. In his essay " The Death of Postmodernism and Beyond ", Alan Kirby has argued that we now inhabit an entirely new cultural landscape, which he calls "pseudo-modernism".1 APPROACHES TO THE TERM As with many other divisions, the use of the term is subject to the Lumpers And Splitters problem. There are those who use very small and exact definitions of postmodernism, often for theories perceived as Relativist , Nihilist , Counter-Enlightenment or Antimodern . Others believe the world has changed so profoundly that the term applies to nearly everything, and use postmodernism in a broad cultural sense. People who believe postmodernism is really just an aspect of the modernist period (1920s) may instead use terms such as "late modernism". Additional references to postmodernism:
DEVELOPMENT OF POSTMODERNISM See Also: The development of postmodernism Writers such as John Ralston Saul among others have argued that postmodernism represents an accumulated disillusionment with the promises of the Enlightenment project and its progress of science, so central to modern thinking. Origins in architecture See Also: Postmodern architecture The movement of Postmodernism began with Architecture , as a reactionary movement against the perceived blandness and hostility present in the Modern movement. Modern Architecture as established and developed by masters such as Walter Gropius and Philip Johnson was focused on the pursuit of an ideal perfection, harmony of form and functionSullivan, Louis. "The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered,” published Lippincott's Magazine (March 1896). and dismissal of frivolous ornamentLoos, Adolf. "Ornament and Crime,” published 1908.. Critics of modernism argued that the attributes of perfection and minimalism themselves were subjective, and pointed out anachronisms in modern thought and questioned the benefits of its philosophy.Venturi, et al. Definitive postmodern architecture such as the work of Michael Graves rejects the notion of a 'pure' form or 'perfect' Architectonic detail, instead conspicuously drawing from all methods, materials, forms and colors available to architects. Postmodern architecture began the reaction against the almost totalitarian qualities of Modernist thought, favoring personal preferences and variety over objective, ultimate truths or principles. It is this atmosphere of criticism, skepticism and subjectivity that defines the postmodern philosophy. Notable philosophical and literary contributors See Also: postmodern literature Thinkers in the mid and late 19th century and early 20th century, like ''. Also, Richard Rorty wrote '' Philosophy And The Mirror Of Nature '' (1979). Jean Baudrillard , Michel Foucault , and Roland Barthes are also influential in 1970s postmodern theory. Movements and contributors:
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