Postmodernism

Author: David Leon
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The vitality of sociology and even the social sciences largely depends on their keen responsiveness to social and cultural changes. In this regard, David Leon, a sociology professor at Queen's University in Canada, has set an example for social science workers. His research, writing, and teaching interests all revolve around major social changes in the modern world. Technology, society, and (post)modernity are his focal points; accordingly, the information society, globalization, secularization and religion, electronic surveillance and privacy, and of course (post)modernity, have become the themes of his works. These works mainly include: Surveillance After 9/11 (2003), Surveillance as Social Sorting: Privacy, Risk, and Digital Discrimination (2002), Surveillance Society: Monitoring Everyday Life (2001), Rethinking Church, State, and Modernity: Canada Between Europe and America (co-edited with Marguerite Vandi, 2000), Jesus in Disneyland: Religion in Postmodern Time (2000), Computers, Surveillance, and Privacy (1996, co-edited with Ella Zureik), The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveillance Society (1994), The Information Society (1988), and so on. Postmodernity naturally belongs to the series of "keen responsiveness" mentioned above. This small book was first published in 1994 and republished in 1999 with revisions and additions. The author's intention is very clear: to make "keen responsiveness" to some important issues of contemporary social and cultural changes through postmodernity. He says, "Now, anyone who wants to map the cultural changes and, if the views in this book are correct, understand contemporary social phenomena, must center on the issue of postmodernity. Because the issue of postmodernity provides an opportunity to reassess modernity, it shows that the current signs can be understood as modernity itself being changeable and elusive, and that it seems to be abandoning the promises it made about the future at the time." (Quoted from page 127 of the book) "The concept of postmodernity is valuable because it alerts us to a series of major issues. It enhances our sensitivity and helps us treat certain debates as issues to be explained. It forces our gaze to move beyond narrow technological and specific debates, addressing historical changes from a broader perspective." (See page 9 of the book) Unlike the common perception that postmodernity is a "negative" phenomenon such as heresy or rebellion, the author does not consider it an idle academic fabrication or populist propaganda. Instead, he views postmodernity (ity) as a dominant discourse for grasping the changes of a specific era, just as modernity (ity) marks the world since the Enlightenment. Indeed, compared to the era of Marx, Weber, Simmel, and Nietzsche (considered pioneers of postmodern thought), the world we live in today has undergone great "transformations." Information and communication technologies not only bring new forms of the macro-world, such as the information society, globalization, and the global village, but they also constantly reconstruct and shape micro-forms of individuals, communities, nations, and gender. Biogenetic technology brings revolutionary changes to the external forms of the socio-economic world while prompting a redefinition of the human body, even of humanity itself, and rehighlighting the issues of human value and meaning. Television, images, and advertising flood every corner of the globe, and the tide of consumerism reaches every rich and poor heart. Consumers and consumption, rather than workers and production, become the focus of social analysis. Baudrillard argues that adhering to Marxist production models of analysis cannot fully understand the consumer society. To a large extent, this rapidly evolving information society, this materialistic consumer society, this fantastical visual world, this fleeting "hyperreal" world, lies outside the grand narrative of modernity. The new era needs new symbols and new thinking. It is precisely in examining new technologies and consumerism within the context of cultural changes that Leon makes us believe that labeling this new era and new thinking with "postmodern (ity)" is appropriate. In this sense, we are in the postmodern age. However, this does not mean abandoning modernity. In Leon's view, postmodernity is not a radical break with modernity, just as modernity was not a radical break with tradition. The development of human society often finds new vitality in the "wisdom of the past." The new situation of postmodernity sharpens the age-old issues of human values and meaning. So, how should we respond? To this, Leon disagrees with Nietzschean nihilism, which argues that the loss of ethical, value, and meaning resources in modernity has plunged humanity into an irreparable abyss of nihilism. Modernity has not died, and on this point, Leon aligns with Habermas. There are still wisdom resources in modernity to be explored. Even Leon says that even in the postmodern age, people can recycle and utilize the wisdom resources of the pre-modern—tradition—such as religion and ethics. This fully demonstrates Leon's broad historical perspective. He proposes that we "acknowledge postmodernity, reassess modernity, and recycle the pre-modern." (See page 134 of the book) In this perspective, each era is relativized and contextualized, and thus, the future of humanity need not be the "apocalyptic" disaster scenario envisioned by millenniumarians. China, in its transitional period (from tradition to modernity), is in a "thirst" for modernity. So, is postmodernity a luxury? A careful reading of Leon's interpretation of postmodernity reveals the answer: Who can deny that these "postmodern conditions" such as new technologies and consumerism are vividly unfolding around us? In the context of globalization and informatization, although postmodernity is not the "mainstream" in China, who can deny that this "stream" can reflect the "mainstream" and help us more clearly assess the modernization project? Moreover, in my view, the current "classic reading movement" is a manifestation of the Chinese people's growing confidence in digging into tradition to find remedies for the spiritual crisis of the present. We are experiencing tradition, modernity, and postmodernity synchronically. Therefore, do we not have even more reason to "acknowledge postmodernity, reassess modernity, and recycle the pre-modern"? Of course, it should be noted that as a Western scholar, Leon maintains his own perspective on certain issues. In his works, he discusses the relationship between postmodernity and Marxism several times, treating Marx's critique of capitalism as a characteristic of postmodernity, which is clearly forced and stems from the author's lack of deep understanding of Marxism. On the other hand, the author's critique of modernity also appears overly harsh. Although these shortcomings do not diminish the value of the work, we must maintain a critical attitude and make reasonable selections while reading.