Postmodernism

Preceded by Modernism

Postmodernity

 Hypermodernity
 Metamodernism
 Posthumanism
 Post-materialism
 Post-postmodernism
 Post-structuralism

Fields

 anthropology
 archaeology
 architecture
 art
 Christianity
 criminology
 dance
 feminism
 film
 literature (picture books)
 music
 philosophy
 anarchism
 Marxism
 positivism
 social construction of nature
 psychology
 political science
 theatre

Criticism of postmodernism

 v
 t
 e

Postmodernism is a broad movement that developed in the mid- to late-20th century

across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism and that marked a departure
from modernism.[1][2][3] The term has also more generally been applied to the historical era
following modernity and the tendencies of this era.[4] (In this context, "modern" is not used in the
sense of "contemporary", but merely as a name for a specific period in history.)
While encompassing a wide variety of approaches, postmodernism is generally defined by an
attitude of skepticism, irony, or rejection toward the meta-narratives and ideologies of
modernism, often calling into question various assumptions of Enlightenment
rationality.[5] Consequently, common targets of postmodern critique include universalistnotions
of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social
progress.[5] Postmodern thinkers frequently call attention to the contingent or socially-
conditioned nature of knowledge claims and value systems, situating them as products of
particular political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies.[5] Accordingly, postmodern
thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to self-referentiality, epistemological and moral
relativism, pluralism, subjectivism, and irreverence.[5]
Postmodern critical approaches gained purchase in the 1980s and 1990s, and have been
adopted in a variety of academic and theoretical disciplines, including cultural studies, philosophy
of science, economics, linguistics, architecture, feminist theory, and literary criticism, as well
as art movements in fields such as literature and music. Postmodernism is often associated with
schools of thought such as deconstruction and post-structuralism, as well as philosophers such
as Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, and Fredric Jameson, though many so-labeled
thinkers have criticized the term.