Postmodernism Key Terms Flashcards
Duality of structure
Notion that people both make society and are strongly influenced by it
Agents
Gidden’s term for people
High modernity
Gidden’s term for late modernity
Hyperreality
The idea that we live in a world that is increasingly perceived and experienced via the media
Individualisation
A decline in accepting socially approved roles and an increasing stress on personal choices
Late modernity
A term to describe contemporary society, in which traditional and social groupings, economic organisation and culture have all changed so profoundly that traditional sociologists explanations no longer true
Ontological security
Idea that people want to believe there is some reality that is beyond them in society, giving them the psychological confidence to engage in interaction
Postmodern
Different perspective on contemporary
Modernity
A period in history with specific ways of thinking largely based on scientific rational thought
Reflexive modernism
Idea that risk avoidance becomes a major factor in social organisation
Reflexive modernisation
Idea that risk avoidance becomes a major factor in social organisation
Reflexivity
Gidden’s term for the ability to perceive yourself as others see you and create your own identity
Risk society
Beck suggests that contemporary societies are best characterised as ones where people are aware that they face complex risks that aren’t open to individual control
Sign objects
Baudrillad’s term for the notion that we buy items to express ourselves, not their function
Simulacrum (plural simulacra)
Media images that have no basis in reality, but which people increasingly model their behaviour upon
