- "Skepticism toward the 'grand narratives' of modernism; rejection of epistemic (scientific) certainty or the stability of meaning; and sensitivity to the role of ideology in maintaining political power."
A cultural and intellectual movement that challenges the modernist assumptions of objective truth, rationality, and progress.
Postmodernism: The philosophical movement and cultural trend that emerged in the late 20th century, characterized by skepticism toward grand narratives, truth claims, and objective reality.
Media Theory: The study of media and its effects on society, culture, and individual behavior. It includes critical analysis of media content, media technology, and media industries.
Critical Theory: A philosophical approach that emphasizes the role of power and ideology in shaping society and culture. Critical theory challenges dominant norms and power structures in the pursuit of social justice.
Semiotics: The study of signs and symbols and their meaning in language and communication. It analyzes the way symbols are constructed and interpreted in cultural contexts.
Structuralism: A theory that emphasizes the underlying structures of language and culture. It argues that these structures shape our perception and understanding of the world.
Deconstruction: A theory that challenges the binary oppositions and hierarchies present in language, culture, and society. It seeks to reveal the inherent contradictions and hidden meanings in texts and cultural norms.
Poststructuralism: A theory that rejects the concept of an objective reality and deconstructs the idea that language has a fixed meaning. It emphasizes the fluidity and instability of meaning.
Cultural Studies: An interdisciplinary field that examines the relationship between culture, power, and society. It analyzes the production and consumption of cultural products, such as media, art, and literature.
Media Ecology: A theory that explores the impact of media on human communication and social interaction. It examines how media shape our perceptions and worldviews.
Hyperreality: A concept that refers to the blurring of the boundaries between reality and simulation. It argues that the media create a world of simulated experiences that becomes our primary reality.
Simulacra: A term used to describe copies or representations that have no original referent. It refers to the process by which signs and symbols become detached from their original meaning, leading to the creation of new meanings.
Ideology: The set of beliefs, values, and ideas that shape our social and political worldview. It includes both dominant ideologies that promote the status quo and subversive ideologies that challenge it.
Power: The ability of individuals or groups to influence or control others. It is a central concept in media theory, because media play a powerful role in shaping our perceptions and beliefs.
Discourse: A term used to describe the ways in which language and communication shape our understanding of the world. Discourse analysis examines the power dynamics at play in the production and consumption of discourse.
Representation: The process by which meaning is created and communicated through media. Media representations can shape our perceptions of individuals, groups, and entire cultures.
Cultural Postmodernism: This school of thought is focused on studying the impact of popular culture on society. It examines the ways in which cultural production, consumption and distribution shape social norms, values, and behaviors. Cultural Postmodernism critiques mass media, advertising, and branding as forms of cultural homogenization and manipulation.
Marxist Postmodernism: As the name suggests, this type of Postmodernism is influenced by Marxist theory, and it focuses on the economic and political implications of media culture. It explores the ways in which media reinforces or challenges social class hierarchies, and critiques capitalist ideologies that underlie media production.
Feminist Postmodernism: This approach examines the ways in which gender and sexuality are represented in media, and how media perpetuates heteronormativity and gender stereotypes. It also explores the intersection of gender, race and class in representation and power struggles.
Postcolonial Postmodernism: This school of thought reflects on the impact of colonialism on the production and reception of media. It critiques the ways in which media perpetuates colonial stereotypes, and how media is used as a tool of Western imperialism.
Technological Postmodernism: This type of Postmodernism emphasizes the role of technology in shaping media culture. It critiques the utopian and dystopian implications of technological advancement, and how it affects human behavior and social organization.
Psychoanalytic Postmodernism: This school of thought emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind in shaping media culture. It draws on Freudian and Lacanian theories to explore the ways in which media reinforces or challenges our deepest desires and fears, and how it affects our sense of self.
- "Claims to objectivity are dismissed as naïve realism, with attention drawn to the conditional nature of knowledge claims within particular historical, political, and cultural discourses."
- "Self-referentiality, epistemological relativism, moral relativism, pluralism, irony, irreverence, and eclecticism."
- "It rejects the 'universal validity' of binary oppositions, stable identity, hierarchy, and categorization."
- "Initially emerging from a mode of literary criticism, postmodernism developed in the mid-twentieth century as a rejection of modernism."
- "Postmodernism is associated with the disciplines deconstruction and post-structuralism."
- "Postmodernism has been observed across many disciplines."
- "Various authors have criticized postmodernism as promoting obscurantism, as abandoning Enlightenment, rationalism and scientific rigor, and as adding nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge."
- "Rejection of epistemic (scientific) certainty or the stability of meaning."
- "Sensitivity to the role of ideology in maintaining political power."
- "Claims to objectivity."
- "Moral relativism."
- "Stable identity."
- "In the mid-twentieth century."
- "The 'grand narratives' of modernism."
- "The stability of knowledge claims within particular historical, political, and cultural discourses."
- "Irony and irreverence."
- "Categorization."
- "Promoting obscurantism."
- "Hierarchy."