o groups contending with one another not about the conflict between beliefs, but conflict about belief itself.

Postmodernism then is the critique of grand narratives, the awareness that such narratives serve to mask the contradictions and instabilities that are associated with any social group or practice. In other words, every attempt to create order always demands the creation of an equal amount of disorder, but a grand narrative masks the construction of these categories saying that disorder really is chaotic and bad, and that order really is rational and good. Postmodernism rejects grand narratives and favors “mini-narratives,” stories that explain small practices, local events, rather than large-scale universal concepts. Postmodern views are always situational and temporary, making no claims to truth, reason, or stability. In a postmodern society there are no originals, only copies which is referred to as “simulacra.” You might think for example about paintings or sculptures, where there is an original work and there might also be a thousand copies, but the original is the one with the highest value. Contrast that with cds or music recordings, where there is no “original,” as in a painting, no recording that is hung on a wall, or kept in a vault; there are only copies, by the millions, that are all the same and sold for approximately the same amount of money.

There are lots of questions to be asked about postmodernism, and one of the most important is about the politics involved or, more simply, is this movement towards fragmentation and instability something good or something bad? I believe that there are various answers to that. In our society the desire to return to the pre-postmodern era tends to get associated with conservative political, religious, and philosophical groups. In fact, one of the consequences of postmodernism seems to be the of religious fundamentalism, as a form of resistance to the questioning o

Some topics in this essay:
Marxism Postmodernism, Modernism Postmodernism, Walt Anderson, Francois Lyotard, grand narrative, modern societies, grand narratives, pull apart, postmodern society, postmodern politics, solving social, postmodern societies, modernism postmodernism, “grand narratives”,