Postmodernism : Modernism And Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a philosophical movement branches its roots in the mid to late 20th century as a response to modernism. “It refers to a cultural, intellectual, or artistic state lacking a clear central hierarchy or organizing principle”. Therefore, there is no well-shaped definition or sets of rules for postmodernism as it is a critique of structures and what we refer to as real but for postmodernism, there is no “absolute truth”.

Modernism is a set of cultural arrays and tendencies of associated cultural movements in a changing society. It is believed to originate from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western civilization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the years following World War1. Modernism involves breaking from the past set of established rules, traditions and conventions in search of new forms of expression and man's functions. New ideas in politics, psychology and philosophical theories are the main factors that led to a search for new modes of expression. Characterized by social change, industrialization, and advance in science and fueled by metropolitans and technological developments.

Postmodernism is a term which is highly contested in the sociological world, where it is used to indicate a significant detachment from modernism. It is easier to give the uses of the term; ‘to give a name to the present historical period, to name a specific style in arts and architecture and to name a point of rupture or disjuncture in epistemology’ (Buchanan, 2010). For this,

'It quickly emerged that the proper and unique area of competence of each art coincided with all that was unique to the nature of its medium. The task of self-criticism became to eliminate from the effects of each art any and every effect that might conceivably be borrowed from or by the medium of any other art. Thereby each art would be rendered 'pure', and in its 'purify' find the guarantee of its standards of quality as well as of its independence. 'Purity' meant self-definition, and the enterprise of self-criticism in the arts became one of self-definition, with a vengeance.'

Authors Hanan Al-Shaykh, Bessie Head, and Ngugi Thiong’O lived in a time where the idea of a universal truth deteriorated because of the ceaseless wars in the twentieth century. As a result, postmodernism took its roots in literature as people attempted to make sense of the world around them that no longer made sense. Postmodernism is the freedom to pick one’s truth from a series of truths. Short stories “Wedding at The Cross”, “The Women’s Swimming Pool”, and “The Deep River” capture this idea of competing truths as they all utilize a tone of uncertainty throughout the story. However, “The Women’s Swimming Pool” and “Wedding at The Cross” best embody this spirit compared to “The Deep River,” as the characters begin to rely less on the close figures to define their truths for them. By doing so, both stories show in more detail how post-modern movements have affected our understanding of truth as people start to independently define their own truths.

Brick and mortar institutions become more irrelevant with time. Individuals that are ideologically motivated hasten the inevitable collapse of burdensome businesses that don’t put people first. The difficulty is when distorted senses of ‘justice’ lead to dynamics that repress free speech. Decumbent yet forceful leadership in businesses and governments leads to a great many problems; humans have a dualistic nature, and to ignore the potential for unforeseeable consequences is reckless. Postmodernist critiques may be written in an attempt to help make the criminal justice system better; here again, many suitable word associations that are interesting can be declared as both good and correct in a sense that is not at all sanctimonious.

Modernism was a movement that was developed during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Modernism developed due to the changes happening in societies at the time. Around the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century there was a rise in the industrial society’s where there were advancements in technologies and machines, and a rapid growths in cities. This lead to a change in cultural trends and philosophies, which is known as modernism. Modernism was well known for the rejection on traditional way, such as the arts and beliefs. It rejected the idea of realism and religious beliefs. During these years modernism could be distinguished by two aspects, High and Low Modernism.

To fully appreciate the differences and similarities between Postmodernism and Modernism, it is required to understand exactly what they are. Modernism is the term we give to the accumulated creations and activities of designers in the early 20th century, who had the theory that traditional forms of literature, religion, social organization, and most of all, art and architecture, had become outdated in the new social, political, and economic environment of a fully industrialised world. One of the main characteristics of Modernism is self-consciousness, which typically caused exstensive experimentations of form and function. The creative process of generating work was also explored, forming new techniques in design. Modernism rejected all ideology of realism and prefers to reference and parody works of the past. Postmodernism, on the other hand, is a radical rejection of Modernist design. Taking place in the late 20th century, it is a movement in art, criticism, and architecture that disputes the majority of modernist tendencies. The Postmodernist analysis of society and culture lead to the expansion of critical theory and advanced the works of architecture, literature, and design. This entire re-evaluation of the western value system of popular culture, love, marriage, economy, that took place from the 1950s and 60s, leading to the peak of the Social Revolution in 1968, is commonly referred as Postmodernity which influenced postmodern thought, as opposed to the term

According to some people, the 20th century can be divided into two separate periods, the first period being characterized by the modernism movement and the other period being characterized by the postmodernism movement. Others believe that postmodernism was a response to modernism and hence consider them as two sides of the same movement. There are some key differences between the two movements but these characteristics show, the basic difference in the ways of thinking that led to these movements. The difference between modernism and postmodernism highlights the difference in the approach towards life.

Hassrad and Cox (2013) sought to create a model that modernizes and adapts the Burrell and Morgan’s model to unpack the meta-theoretical assumptions of the paradigm not accounted for – post-structuralism, and more broadly, post modernism. This section will briefly discuss each of Burrell and Morgan’s original criteria in relation to the literature on third-order analysis to justify the use of this modification. Hassard and Cox see three main approaches to organizational theorizing, structural, anti-structural and post-structural. Hassard and Cox (2013) also make notable adaptations to the understanding of paradigms by rethinking them as less insulated and static and allow for significant ambiguity and contradiction. Finally, Hassard and Cox also modernize the existing paradigmatic structure by updating terminology for several concepts, namely, replacing nomothetic with deductive, idiographic with interpretive and anti-positivist with constructionist, in order to offer more accessible or contemporary terms. These dimensions remain intact in terms of their definition in the original Burrell and Morgan model.

Postmodernism refers to a broad term used to explain movements in philosophy, art, music and critical theory. Postmodernism is viewed as a reaction to the pioneering modernist movement. In literature and art, postmodernism responds against classical ideas. With respect to post-structuralism and structuralism, there is a great difference between postmodernism

Modernism describes the ideology of the art and design that were produced during the modernist period. There has been a lot of controversy about when modernism started, yet many believe it initiated sometime in the late 19th century and continued to the early 20th century. The modernist movement was meant to be a break from traditions and it was set up to separate the value of certain works from the conservative realism. For instance, Unlike the traditional art that was aesthetic, this movement was more about space and form. In modernist design, shape and organization of products and buildings were based on their functional requirements. As a result, designs became simpler without the traditional decorative concepts. The idea behind the

Postmodernism was a reaction against the modernism philosophical values and assumptions. Although many agree that there is a thin line between modernism and postmodernism, postmodernism is not modernism. In modernism, scientific theories were used to determine what is true. However, postmodernism allows individuals to question the theories and not take them as facts (Duignan, 2014). While modernism emphasized on objectivism, postmodernism allows extensive subjectivism in all aspects of life.

Twentieth century is marked with two epochs, first half is known as modernism and second half is named as postmodernism. In the latter half of twentieth century there was an overall transferal in terms of culture, economics, religion, history, linguistics, social behavior, philosophy, arts, architecture, and literature. The world has entered into a new phenomenon that is being defined with the prefix of ‘post’. For istance from structuralism to poststructuralism, colonialism to postcolonialism, positivism to postpositivism and modernism to postmodernism. In Location of Culture Homi K Bhabha has defined the prefix of ‘post’ under the context of post colonialism. He is of the view that ‘post’ is such a prefix that does not give any direction rather it is directionless. The word which he has used to define this prefix is ‘beyond’ (Bhabha, 1994) and defined that in this world beyond, there is no direction.

Essentially, postmodernism is a very unique literary style. This is because, there are not many boundaries when it comes to these types of works. The themes involved within postmodernist works are often unusual and off-the-wall. By using aspects such as unreliable narrators, maximalism, and pastiche, authors within the field of postmodernism are able to create works that bend reality and provide very unique stories that intertwine countless themes. Within other genres of literature, pessimism and optimism often play important roles in regards to character definition and plot progression. In postmodernism, cynical pessimism seems to be an integral theme in most works. For example, in Angels in America by Tony Kushner, the author intertwines pessimistic characters with religion in order to create a truly unique and spiritual setting.