On Mon, 6 Sep 1999, Steve Perry wrote:
>
> If we are all "postmodernists" by virtue of living in 1999,
> when did "modernity" end, and what changes defined its passing?
Ulrich Beck suggests modernity was based on a society that all hung together of a piece: a nuclear family with a single breadwinner; an industrial society anchored in manufacturing and unions; political parties that (in Europe at least) were a clear expression of classes; mass media that provided a common perspective; and a faith in science as an unalloyed good. With the break-up of the family, the unions, and the parties as engines of socialization, the nichification of lifestyles and the loss of faith in scientific progress, the old model of socialization passed away, and the new one is still being born. (As to your question of When, they're both ideal types, so they're both pretty fuzzy on whens.)
At least that's what he sez. But he would agree with you (or at least with what I think you are implying) that postmodernity is simply the continued working out of modernity. For that reason he doesn't call it postmodernity, but "the second modernity."
Frankly, I've always thought the interesting postmodern ideas have all appeared several times before -- at the turn of the century, post World War I, post World War II -- when everything seemed open to question. Postmodernism -- the question of modernity's verities -- seems an intricable part of modernity. And it is always proclaimed as a big surprise.
The real question is: is postmodern society more different from modern society than either of them are from the "traditional" society they were originally defined in opposition to? Probably not. But most of us are so far from traditional societies that that comparison doesn't interest us. (And those of us that do study "traditional" societies closely usually break out in hives when subjected to this level of glossoverification. So it doesn't interest them either.)
Michael __________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com