Can you explain to me in basic terms what postmodernism is?

Question

I have to write about postmodernism and its effect on: government, education, religion, etc. What effect would you write on? and why? I have decided to write about government, since i am taking God and Government lately. I believe that the term government has evolved to a centralized state. Do you have any ideas you'd like to share? Thanks for the input in advance. .

Answer 1

1. An example of Post Modernism in government is something like, "Our strength is in our diversity."

This is because the traditional / conventional / historical / tried & true / accepted-without-question concept is, "One nation under God...INDIVISIBLE with liberty and justice for all." In other words, the melting pot of unity concept is turned upside-down to come up with the "strength in diversity" methodology.

Post Modern efforts generally focus on the sacred cows of that which is traditional / conventional / historical / tried & true / accepted-without-question.

Examples (modern vs. post modern):
1. (GOVERNMENT)Loyalty to the USA flag vs. flag burning
2. (SOCIETY)Mariage & Comitment vs. "I just wanna' be happy" divorce
3. (MUSIC)Rock & Roll vs. New Wave music
4. (ARCHITECTURE)Modern Architecture vs. Post Modern Architecture (google it)
5. (RELIGION/SOCIETY)Traditional Marriage vs. allowing Gay Marriage
6. (EDUCATION)Traditional education of basic reading, writing & arithmetic vs. focus on self-esteem.
7. (RELIGION)Primary focus on sectarian religious standards vs. unfocused non-denominational spriituality.

Generally post modern means taking the conventional and/or:
1. magnifying some part to a rediculous degree against the whole.
2. Removing some part and replacing it with something unexpected.
3. Taking a particular and inverting it, then reinserting it into the mix.
4. Justifying the removal of a considered to be crucial part, then leaving the rest to stand or fall without the removed part.
5. Taking something which is only known to be in one place or system, and placing it in a completely unexpected scenario.

For (5) above, a post modern artist once took a picture of Christ and submerged it into a vat of urin. This "art" was actually on display at a museum in New York a while back. Needless to say, the protesters were practically rioting in the streets.

Usually, Post Modernism is MEANT to provoke (especially in art) rather than evoke.

I"ve tried to explain this to you in the most basic terms I could. However, as you can see by your other answer, there is a profoundly deep intellectual basis underlying post modernity.

Good Luck with your essay!

Answer 2

postmodernism is indefinable is a truism. However, it can be described as a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices employing concepts such as difference, repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and hyperreality to destabilize other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and the univocity of meaning.
The term “postmodernism” first entered the philosophical lexicon in 1979, with the publication of The Postmodern Condition by Jean-François Lyotard. I therefore give Lyotard pride of place in the sections that follow. An economy of selection dictated the choice of other figures for this entry. I have selected only those most commonly cited in discussions of philosophical postmodernism, five French and two Italian, although individually they may resist common affiliation. Ordering them by nationality might duplicate a modernist schema they would question, but there are strong differences among them, and these tend to divide along linguistic and cultural lines. The French, for example, work with concepts developed during the structuralist revolution in Paris in the 1950s and early 1960s, including structuralist readings of Marx and Freud. For this reason they are often called “poststructuralists.” They also cite the events of May 1968 as a watershed moment for modern thought and its institutions, especially the universities. The Italians, by contrast, draw upon a tradition of aesthetics and rhetoric including figures such as Giambattista Vico and Benedetto Croce. Their emphasis is strongly historical, and they exhibit no fascination with a revolutionary moment. Instead, they emphasize continuity, narrative, and difference within continuity, rather than counter-strategies and discursive gaps. Neither side, however, suggests that postmodernism is an attack upon modernity or a complete departure from it. Rather, its differences lie within modernity itself, and postmodernism is a continuation of modern thinking in another mode.