TOPIC : Post-modernism and Popular Culture

PAPER - 8 : The Cultural StudiesSTUDENT’S NAME : Gohil Yashpalsinh B.CLASS : M.A. Sem-2ROLL NO. : 16YEAR : 2013SUBMITTED TO : Prof. Dilip Barad (English Department, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University)

Postmodernism

• The term “postmodernism” first entered the philosophical lexicon in 1979, with the publication of The Postmodern Condition by Jean-François Lyotard.

• It’s a reaction against the philosophical assumptions, values, and intellectual worldview of the modern period of western history.

• Postmodernism questions everything rationalist European philosophy held to be true.

Postmodernism

Market Capitalism

• An economy that operates by voluntary exchange in a free market and is not planned or controlled by a central authority; a capitalistic economy.

Monopoly Capitalism

• A capitalist system typified by trade monopolies in the hands of a few people.

Consumer Capitalism

• Consumer capitalism is a term that has been continually redefined since its introduction into popular culture in the 1920s as the public relations industry became ubiquitous, and used techniques derived from psychology and sociology to mass market consumer goods. Most commonly, this term refers to the idea that consumption drives the capitalist economy through corporate manipulation of the consumer to purchase (and continue purchasing) material goods.

• Many of the doctrines characteristically associated with postmodernism can fairly be described as the straightforward denial of the general philosophical viewpoints that were taken for granted during the 18th-century Enlightenment.

• The most important of these viewpoints are the following:

1. There is an objective natural reality.2. The descriptive and explanatory statements of

scientists and historians can, in principle, be objectively true or false.

3. Through the use of reason and logic, and with the more specialized tools provided by science and technology, human beings are likely to change themselves and their societies for the better.

4. Reason and logic are universally valid.

5. There is such a thing as human nature; it consists of faculties, aptitudes, or dispositions that are in some sense present in human beings at birth rather than learned or instilled through social forces.

6. Language refers to and represents a reality outside itself.

7. Human beings can acquire knowledge about natural reality.

8. It is possible, at least in principle, to construct general theories that explain many aspects of the natural or social world within a given domain of knowledge.

Popular Culture

• It is cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people.

• There are four main types of popular culture analyses : • Production analysis• Textual analysis• Audience analysis• And historical analysis

Thank you.

 Work sited

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Market+capitalism

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Postmodernism

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1077292/postmodernism

http://www.ehow.com/about_6589518_consumer-capitalism-definition.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/popular+culture