Post Modernism
- Ailish Stein
- Oct 4, 2020
- 2 min read
Post Modernism - A late 20th century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and literature that represents a departure from modernism and has its heart at a general distrust of grand theories and ideologies as well as the problematic relationship with any notion of "art"
Jacques Derrida - known as the founder of "deconstruction". This was a way to criticize not only literary and philosophical texts, but also political institutions. After earning a doctorate in philosophy, Derrida became very famous in France during the 1960's. Auditoriums were filled with those wishing to hear him speak on a multitude of topics. One of Derrida's most profound topics was the topic of the French language. Derrida believed that languages are constantly "infected" by one another. He believed that words paralleling English (such as le week-end) were a destruction to the language and should be stopped at all costs.
Paul-Michel Foucault - primarily focused on the relationships between power and knowledge, and how they can be used to control different societal groups. Foucault describes three types of power within a society: Sovereign power, disciplinary power, and biopower. Sovereign power describes a pyramid of power where a single leader is placed above all others, and groups of higher ranking citizens are placed higher on the pyramid than socially decided "lower ranking" groups, whom are placed at the bottom of the pyramid. Disciplinary power describes a self-attained power in which "the more useful a body becomes, the more power it has". This takes into account Charles Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest", in which only the healthiest and most fit individuals will be able to reproduce and succeed in producing successful offspring. Biopower rests on the norms that are internalized by the people. This studies populations regarding number of births, life expectancy, public health, migration, housing, which social groups are over-represented in deviations from the norm, and tries to adjust or eliminate these deviations.
Roland Barthes - A french essayist whose main points of writing consisted of always questioning whether the eyes see truth. Many of Barthes writings consisted of asking "what is, what has been, what has ceased to be" in response to seeing artifacts from his own childhood as well as more professional endeavors.
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