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Definition: postmodernism from The Macquarie Dictionary
1.

any of a number of trends in the visual arts or literature which developed in the 1970s as a reaction to the idea of modernism with its emphasis on individual expression, evident in a range of styles, in particular a movement in architecture, painting and the decorative arts which used historical material as `quotation' material in a playful or critical way that involves a recognition of famous images and motifs of the past as an essential part of its meaning.

postmodernisms

postmodernist adjective noun

postmodernists


postmodernism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
term used to designate a multitude of trends—in the arts, philosophy, religion, technology, and many other areas—that come after and deviate from the many 20th-cent. movements that constituted modernism. The term has become ubiquitous in contemporary discourse and has been employed as a catchall for various aspects of society, theory, and art. Widely debated with regard to its meaning and implications, postmodernism has also been said to relate to the culture of capitalism as it has developed since the 1960s. In general, the postmodern view is cool, ironic, and accepting of the fragmentation of contemporary existence. It tends to concentrate on surfaces rather than depths, to blur the distinctions between high and low culture, and as a whole to challenge a wide variety of traditional cultural values. The term postmodernism is probably most specific and meaningful when used in relation to architecture, where it designates an international architectural movement that emerged in the…
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Full text Article postmodernism

From Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature
The term “postmodernism” has achieved an uncanny double-saturation: ubiquitous in writing on contemporary topics, it is also so overloaded with meanings and associations as to be almost meaningless. Many of the problems in articulating any stable definition become apparent in outlining the word’s…
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Full text Article Postmodernism

From The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
Postmodern themes were discussed within architecture, literary criticism, and sociology in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. French philosophers addressed postmodernity during the 1970s. Jean-Francois Lyotard has analyzed the status of knowledge in a postmodern age, in particular with…
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Full text Article Postmodernism

From World of Sociology, Gale
Postmodernism, undoubtedly a controversial topic in late twentieth-century sociology, is variously defined and subject to debate. Sociologists have diversely defined postmodernism as a social movement, a state of mind, a cultural logic, an extension of high modernism, and a period in history…
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Full text Article postmodernism

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
Associated with postindustrial society and poststructuralism , postmodernism arises as a consequence of advanced modernization , in particular the fragmentation of the West's institutionalization of unilinear history and systems of meaning. A conception of history as having a single direction, the…
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Full text Article postmodernism

From Political Philosophy A-Z
The name given to a wide-ranging and diffuse way of thinking that covers aesthetics and architecture, music and politics, literary theory and the analysis of moral thinking. In political philosophy, postmodernism can best be summarised as ‘incredulity towards meta-narratives’ in the words of…
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Full text Article postmodernism

From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
A movement in painting, literature, television, film and the arts generally. There is disagreement as to what its main features are but they include the following. Pastiche: a putting together of elements of style from radically different contexts and historical epochs. Reflexivity: the capacity to…
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Full text Article Postmodernism

From Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable
A style and concept in the arts, architecture and criticism of the late 20th century, representing a departure from Modernism and having at its root a general distrust of grand theories and ideologies as well as suspicion of anything smacking of 'art'. The style is best seen in architecture, and one…
| 108 words
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Full text Article postmodernism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
term used to designate a multitude of trends—in the arts, philosophy, religion, technology, and many other areas—that come after and deviate from the many 20th-cent. movements that constituted modernism. The term has become ubiquitous in contemporary discourse and has been employed as a catchall for…
| 461 words
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Full text Article Postmodernism/Postmodernity

From Key Concepts in Sports Studies
To begin, postmodernism and postmodernity are, in essence, two different concepts. Whilst obviously related it is important to note that the terms are used to define distinct historical, social and intellectual developments. Postmodernism relates to the philosophical body of thought that attempts a…
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Full text Article Postmodernism

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
Although not easily defined, the term “postmodernism” refers to the contemporary period in Western culture—“after” modernism—and the corresponding view among scholars, cultural critics, and philosophers that new modes of thought and expression in the post–World War II era have broken down or…
| 1,102 words
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