Postmodernism: What’s it all about?

Which of these buildings is “modernist” and

which are “postmodernist”?
 Some Themes in Postmodernism
• a rupture with the modern (Featherstone,
pp. 427-8)
• the cultural turn—consumption over
production (Featherstone, p. 428)
• a sensibility of playfulness, stylistic
promiscuity, pastiche (Featherstone, p. 428)
• a tendency towards epistemological
relativism combined with advocacy
(Salzman p. 121)
Kivisto’s introduction (p. 424):
“In other words, the focus of
attention has shifted from the
factory to the shopping mall.”
“In effect we must relinquish the attractions
of a postmodern sociology and work
towards a sociological account of
postmodernism...” (Featherstone, p. 430)

What does this mean?

Postmodernism and The “Cultural Turn”
Textual Analysis of Featherstone
p. 430
pp. 431-2
Postmodernism in Anthropology
• feminism and critical advocacy
• the problem of cultural
representation
• the problem of ethnographic
authority
• reflexivity
Criticisms of Anthropological
Postmodernism
• PM’s rejection of science
• Divide between cultures
overstated by PM
• PM’s moralism
• A new kind of
reductionism? (Marhsall
Sahlins on p. 137)
• Focus on “talk” rather than
“reality”