Post-modernism

• How do Postmodernists describe society?

  Fragmented, fluid + diverse
• What undermined meta-narratives?

  Diversity of DFOCs
• What has the collapse of meta-narratives resulted in?

  Fragmentation of knowledge + encouraged ppl to see value in multiple interpretations of the 'truth'
• How do DFOCs subvert trad. forms of identity?

  By offering a 'plurality of identities'
• Baudrillard's 'Hyper-reality'

  Ppl being unable to distinguish between real life + digital reality
• AO2: Hart

  • FB posts are trivial + superficial
  • Identity can be formed on/offline in many ways
• AO2: Bjorklund

  Digital comms give ppl new ways to describe their life across all ages
• AO2: George Ritzer

  • Created concept of 'McDonaldization' = how production processes associated w/ fast-food businesses are spreading
  • McD can lead to: De-skilling of workers, customers becoming workers (via self-service) + quality loss
  • Defend against McD w/ 'De-McDonaldization' ➡️ form of cultural defence highlighting artisanal, handmade items w/ personal touch
• AO2: Baudrillard

  • Said 'Reality is dead in the physical sense'
  • Reality is only what can be simulated/reproduced
  • There's too much info > media has to simplify it > we accept duplicated info as reality
• What is Baudrillard's 'simulacra':

  • Copies of things that no longer have an original, or where the copy becomes more "real" than the thing it reps.
  • E.g. A filtered Instagram photo becoming more "real" to ppl than the actual moment it captured.
• AO2: Lyotard

  • Coined the term 'post-modern condition', where ppl are confused by lack of objective truth + death of metanarratives
• PROs of this perspective?

  They accept +ve AND -ve impacts of DFOCs
• 3 CONs of this perspective?

  1. Don't explain why changes in digital world happen + who controls them
  2. Fail to recognise digital inequalities
  3. Overexaggerate how normies can change their s. lives
• AO2: Elliot

  Pessimistic ab. the fragmented nature of identity due to social network sites