Modernism and Postmodernism: A Dialectical Analysis

Abstract

First paragraph: Postmodernism addresses the fragmented nature of meaning arising from discursive processes. This chapter takes a process approach to postmodernism itself, seeing it, not as an end-state, but as being itself part of a discursive process. The ‘post’ in postmodernism is thus taken seriously as referring to the temporal framework of discourse. The premise is that modes of thought in economics, or any discipline, arise from the wider cultural/political/technological context, so that the focus is on broad trends; this approach is not incompatible with ‘moments’ of reaction, which may be part of the engine for change in thought.