Post-Modern Culture
This is an excerpt from the paper...
The question of whether we live in a post-modern culture will be examined through an analysis of contemporary political, economic and cultural conditions in the U.S. The discussion will first begin with a description of postmodern sensibility. Key portions of this sensibility (particularly the importance of image) will then be presented, through a overview of the predominate role of television, media consultants and the relative absence of active citizens in modern political campaigns. The paper will go on to argue that the American economy itself can be classified as post-modern, characterized by flexible accumulation and personal insecurity. The analysis will conclude with a discussion of how Adorno and his supporters might respond to the claims of post-modern theory, taken the contemporary cultural, economic, and political conditions in the U.S.Postmodernism gained currency in the 1960s with reference to certain tendencies in art and literature, but by the 1980s its meaning was expanded to describe a much more pervasive social and cultural mood within the whole of Western life. Like the modernist sensibility that preceded it, postmodernism celebrates the immediate over the distant, the new over the old, the present over the past. In these respects, at least, it seems to represent an extension--not an overcoming of modernist modes of thinking. But in other respects, the postmodern outlook seems to move beyond modernism and to prod
. . .
lling has uncovered as central in the voters minds. Then media imaging target the issue subgroups and demographic segments that precinct analysis, opinion surveys or televised spots have identified or created as critical voting blocs. Public opinion research on electoral behavior then track the supposed psychosocial needs shared by the voter, who, in turn, accept the politicians' imagery and consume the theater of their own stylized activity (Atherton, 1984).
The news media itself now seems to serve more and more as a surrogate electorate during much of any candidate's campaigning. The active citizen seems more and more a memory as his or her role is taken over by the roving press corps. This type of relation appears almost inevitable in a culture based on T.V. images, inasmuch as the media construct and sustain the modern televisual mediascape.
The media now, as the voters once did, attempt to pin down candidates' stands on the issues. News media personnel also appear to constitute the core of opinion leadership. They handicap the competing candidates, noting who leads, who lags, who is a sure bet, or who is a long shot. In addition media personalities also work to extract pledges of policy direction, post elector
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jay Adorno, Santa Ynez, Postmodernism Postmodernism, Frederick Jameson, Lewis Mumford, Springtime America, , Future Adorno, Cold War, National Politics, jay 1984, flexible accumulation, harvey 1989, tradition community, mumford 1986, active citizen, huyssen 1986, jay 1984 adorno, economic political, voting blocs, poster 1990, atherton 1984 media,
Approximate Word count = 2739
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
