Post-Modernity refers to the view that the institutions and ways of living characteristic of

Modernity have been replaced to such a profound extent that our society is fundamentally
different to the ‘modern’ society. In contrast Post-modernism is a term that refers to new ways of
thinking about thought. Post-modernists believe that knowledge itself needs to be understood in a
different way to modernist’s sociologists such as Functionalists and Marxists. It follows that not
all theorists of post-modernity are post-modernists.

Five key features of the post-modern society

1. Globalization
2. The Media
3. A world in Fragments (due to Dynamism: rapid social change)
4. Consumer society: Individual freedom to choose one’s lifestyle
5. Cultural diversity and hybridity

1. Globalization

A simple definition of Globalization is the increasing connectedness between societies

across the globe. Globalization means there are more flows of information and ideas,
money, and people moving across national boundaries.

Page 2 of 7
2. The increasing importance of the mass media

The post-modern era has witnessed a huge expansion in media technology. The rise of
digital media, especially the internet, has lead to a massive and unprecedented increase in
the number of people using the media; a huge increase I the diversity of media products
both factual and fictional; an increase in the number of people creating their own music,
videos, profile sites and uploading them for public consumption, greater interactivity,
more flexibility. All of this results in much more complex patterns of media usage, more
picking and mixing.

One consequence of this is that our society has an increased reliance on the media to tell
us what is going on in the world. Some sociologists argue that the media creates
something called ‘hyper reality’ where what we see in the media is different yet more
real than reality. Baudrillard argues that the media coverage of war for example is
different to reality, yet is the only reality most of us know.

New networks also emerge through the use of media, most obviously through profile sites
such as Facebook. One consequence of this is the breakdown of local communities, as
people increasingly nerwork online in the privacy of their own homes, and don’t
communicate with their next door neighbours.

Page 3 of 7
3. A world in fragments

In post-modern society, the pace of change is much more rapid than in modern society.
Post-modern society is thus more dynamic, more fluid if you like. The post-modern
society doesn’t sit still, it is like a fidgeting child, and as a result, it lacks any coherent,
stable social structure. This can be evidenced in the following areas:

Work: Gone are the days of a ‘Job for Life’, today is the era of the ‘portfolio workers’
who is much more likely to move jobs and change career several times throughout his or
her working life. Working life also characterized by much more uncertainty as businesses
are quick to move to other regions or countries if they can find cheaper labour abroad.
One very good illustrative example of this is Dyson, which recently closed down a
factory in South wales to seek cheaper labour in China. From the perspective of the South
Wales workers, Dyson come and went in a very short time frame. Also, companies are
now increasingly likely to employ workers through recruitment agencies which can fire at
short notice, and much work is temporary, part time and characterized by flexible
working hours. There are of course good sides and bad sides to all of this, but the upshot
is that working life is much less stable than it used to be. See Richard Sennet: The
Corrossion of Character chapter 1 and Polly Toynbe: Hard Work for an insight into the
post-modern world of work.

Fashion and Music: Two the most visible examples of the fast pace of change lies in
the fashion and music industries, which are constantly evolving with new styles and
musical forms constantly emerging, and with many artists having to continually reinvent
themselves t stay in the spotlight. At the extreme end of this, the pop-idol genre of shows
demonstrates how individuals are made stars for a month and then forgotten.

The breakdown of local communities: The increased flexibility of labour associated

with the world of work means people move more often in their lifetimes, meaning that
people are much less able to put down sable roots in their local communities. This has

Page 4 of 7
 lead to a decline in ‘social capital’ (pretty much like trust) according to Robert Putam.
Look him up on Google, go on, you knoe you want to. Do something different instead of
wasting your time surfing for information on.

4. The Consumer society

According to post-modernists one Fundamental difference between the post-modern society and
modern society is that our society is consumer oriented, rather than work oriented. This means
that consuming things, and leisure activities are more important today than work. The image of
the post-modern society is thus one of a shopping mall, rather than a factory.

Post modernists argue that we live in a ’Pick and mix’ society. Individuals today are free to pick
their lifestyle and life course from a wider range of options than ever before, just as if they were
picking and choosing products in a super market! Importantly, post modernists argue that
individuals are much less shaped by their class, gender and ethnic backgrounds today. Women,
for example, are not expected to become housewives and mothers, just because they are women

Page 5 of 7
and work is much less gendered than it used to be. Society is no longer divided along class lines,
or gender lines, or even ethnic lines. Being born working class, being born a woman, or being
born black, does not, according to post-modernists, pre-determine one’s future, or shape one’s
consciousness (identity) as it did in modernity (and the extent to which it did was often
exaggerated by the classical sociologists).

Postmodern society – a society of consumers

5. Cultural diversity and hybridity

The ever increasing pace of globalization has lead to an increase in cultural diversity and
‘hybridity’, which refers to the mixing of different cultural traditions. If we compare society
today to that of 100 or even 50 years ago we see a bewildering increase in the diversity of social
and cultural forms. Some of the more obvious examples include:

 Goods and services: A simple trip to the supermarket or shopping mall reveals a huge range
of products one can buy, and the same is true of services.
 Fashion and Music: Once again, one can spend several hours in a week simply choosing what
to buy or wear, or sorting MP3s on one’s MP3 player (once you’ve chosen one of those
course!)

Page 6 of 7
 Pretty much every other sphere of life is more diverse than it was 50 years ago: Education,
work, family life…..

References
https://revisesociology.com/2016/04/09/from-modernity-to-post-modernity/

Page 7 of 7