Analysis #5

April 26, 2011

Poststructuralism and postmodernism allows the reader to view a vast

area open for discussion. Each contributor offers differing opinions for solutions to our government, society, and individual emancipation.

          Jürgen Habermas states that modernity revolts against anything that is normative, thereby, neutralizing both morality and utility standards. His work entails more “pragmatic” reliance upon intersubjective areas of specific settings for production, revision, and enforcement of communication norms. His area of interest is with regard to specific societies and how the laws are politically established versus the universal form of “reason.”

          The assessment of human evolution by Marx was that it was an economic progression leaving only a narrow margin for individual freedom—Habermas had this critique for modern society as a whole. Progress to Marx was deterministic and linear; however, “Habermas argues that the process of learning is dynamic and unpredictable from one epoch to another.”

          The postmodernists position was that “general human emancipation” (Lyotard, Norton 1463)could not be accomplished by the universalist strategies typical in liberalism (appeal of human rights) or communism (a one-class society objective). The world was marching to the beat of a utopian future; therefore, the postmodernists attempted to turn away from this worldly understanding of progress. However, Jean-Francois Lyotard proclaimed the need for respect and appreciation of diversity, for local differences, and for the plurality of ways which humans prefer to live. He felt that the government should not try to force the world and its inhabitants in one mold thereby making history move in one direction. Lyotard’s debates did not generate a feeling of postmodernism. In fact, the political objection by Habermas was about his apparent passivity.

          Michel Foucault was known as “the most influential European writer and thinker of the second half of the twentieth century" (Foucault, Norton 1469).He stood for a major source of poststructuralism, New Historicism, cultural studies, etc. Later in life, he distanced himself from being a poststructuralist and postmodernist and classified himself as critical history of modernity that was rooted in Kant. Foucault’s goal was to describe the present by an analysis of what created it—the historical and critical undertaking he calls “genealogy.” From this perspective, he used Jeremy Benthan’s creation of the panopticon for prisons and applied it in negotiating societal norms. Through use of this new structure, it has proven to be beneficial economically in the arrangement of power. According to Foucault, the disciplines discipline us by the discourse. He states that “panopticism constituted the technique, universally widespread, of coercion" (Foucault, The Panopticon 3). Panopticism has become a very useful tool in society.

          Jean Baudrillard was interested in the relationship among reality, symbols, and society. He used simulacra and simulation to apply a discussion of signs, images, and their relationship to contemporaneity. “Baudrillard claims that our current society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that human experience is of a simulation of reality" (Baudrillard, Simulacra 1). The clip of Mirror Has Two Faces portrays the masking that Baudrillard makes reference. Professor Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) desires to have a relationship without sex—because sex ruins everything. Professor Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand) longed for a story book romance. They finally began dating. Not long after he asked her to marry him with the agreement of no sex; however, she agreed with hope that things would change. She remained the “plain Jane” married professor until the circumstances changed and he went away on business. The mirror suddenly had two faces and the second one had a makeover—head to toe! In the beginning, the marriage was replaced with a mask of happiness and contentment without fulfillment—therefore, lacking reality with the human experience. It became a simulated marriage. However, in the end it lacked nothing. Baudrillard shows simulacrum (copies of copies) as is seen in the clip—each individual was just a copy without possessing the complete package.
           There are many factors that make up poststructuralism and postmodernism; however, each of the philosophers, socialists, critics, etc. contributes to making up the final product.
Word Count: 663

Works Cited

“Jean Baudrillard.” En.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 24 April 2011.

          Web. 25 April 2011.

“Jürgen Habermas-Biography.” The European Graduate School.

          24 April 2011. Web. 24 April 2011.

          http://www.egs.edu/library/juergen-habermas/biography/

Leitch, Vincent B., ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.

          New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2010. Print.
“Postmodernism.” En.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 19 April 2011.

          Web. 24 April 2011.

“Post-structuralism.” En.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 6 April 2011.

          Web. 24 April 2011.

“Simulacra and Simulation.” En.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia,

          17 April 2011. Web. 25 April 2011.

“The Panopticon.” Travis Dougherty. Web. 25 April 2011.

          http://legacy.1clark.edu/~soan221/97/Panopticism.html