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Summary Postmodernism and Social Inequality
Postmodernism and social inequality
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Postmodern theories of social inequality- Reject structural theories of society (Functionalists, Marxism, Feminism etc.)-
metanarratives
- Society fragmented and divided and focus on individual meaning
- Not helpful approach to explaining inequality because postmodernists would reject
the idea that there is such a thing as structural inequality
- When all people are poor, no one feels lack of things- it is only when they become
aware that other have better material goods, that poverty and inequality are seen to
exist
- Thus, postmodernists see problem as individual rather than structural to society
- However, Postmodernists do describe conditions that create fragmented / divided
society where conditions conspire to create poverty / unemployment
Postmodern theories and inequality
- Traditional sociological accounts of inequality have tended to look at specific groups
within society and offer explanations for relative lack of wealth / status
- However, this approach to assessing inequality is no longer particularly appropriate
in a postmodern society
- Example: Family- traditional family types changing- dual-earner families / single
parents etc.- no single patterns of analysis / explanation will fit these all
- Attempting to find a cause for inequality and then attempting to solve problem is
waste of time-inequality is individual rather than social problem
Postmodernity creates inequality
- Lyotard- social class, inequality, gender and other social categories are things from
traditional theory
- Claims that these terms are not meaningful because no groups / societies share
common values or norms
- Discusses way in which consumer society and choice of material goods advertised in
the media make individuals feel unequal because they lack things that others appear
to have
Differences between modern and postmodern society
Describing society Industrial modernist society Postmodern society
State of society Tends to be stable-people Change and uncertainty are
know where they belong- features of society
identity boundaries rigidly
defined
Cultural values Shared cultural values e.g. People influences by fashion
religion and consumerism- values are
thus changeable
Class People identify and group Class is seen as identity rather
themselves along class lines than objective fact- most argue
it no longer exists
Culture Cultural produces said to Media culture has now become
reflect social concerns society as it is so influential-
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