Summer readings...Postmodernism, anyone?

[Karlito]

Hi everyone,

Since I am headed to what seems a strongly quant and positivist department next year, I was wondering if any of you could suggest readings in postmodern sociology. I have a hard time trying to pin down what post modernism EXACTLY is...I read lots of stuff in qual methods which sounded very postmodern to me, in terms of how to apprehend social reality, etc, etc..This being said, I never encountered any author in social theory which I could strongly identify as postmodern (I am talking about sociology specifically, since I know already some the more general authors such as Lyotard, Derrida, Badiou, Baudrillard, etc). I am waiting for your suggestions for interesting summer readings!

Edited May 3, 2012 by Karlito

[giacomo]

I have a hard time trying to pin down what post modernism EXACTLY is...

Me, too.

[ci1717]

I am a big fan of David Harvey's The Condition of Postmodernity

[tt503]

Something I really enjoy is "Re-assembling the Social" by Bruno Latour. It's pretty accessible and an easy read.

[Ladril]

Something I really enjoy is "Re-assembling the Social" by Bruno Latour. It's pretty accessible and an easy read.

Sorry, but I do not find it postmodern, really. It's more of an ethnomethodological approach.

[Karlito]

I know a bit of Latour's tuff on science. I agree with Ladril, he is probably not considered postmodern, but thanks for your input anyway!

Edit: Thanks also to ci1717 for your suggestion...I will check Harvey's work

Edited May 4, 2012 by Karlito

[Ladril]

As for the original question, Steven Seidman is considered one of the most important post-modern sociologists in the US.

[Darth.Vegan]

Foucault.

[AaronM]

do some LSD in the desert

[Karlito]

Foucault.

I would put Foucault in the same boat as the authors as I mentioned above, ie not specifically sociology, but, by and large, philosophy. Thanks nevertheless

Edited May 4, 2012 by Karlito

[TheBoxInspector]

Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt come to mind for me, although I think they are more Spinozist and Deleuzian than they are postmodernist. I think postmodernism is used in gender/queer theory as well (not my forte), and you could also probably check out Alan Sokal's work (of the infamous "Sokal Hoax") and see whom he criticizes.

In all honesty though, I've never really understood the hype about postmodernism...it seems like the basic idea of the "end of metanarratives" (in the sense of the work of Lyotard and Baudrillard) had an impact on some understandings of gender or culture, but much of what I've read seems to suggest that the movement is just another form of modernism. The term "postmodernism" itself also seems to me to be used to refer to almost anything against the ideals that the Enlightenment stood for...so other lines of thought like post-structuralism or critical theory tend to get lumped together with it, when they have some very real and important differences--Deleuze and Foucault and Derrida, for example, explicitly reject the "postmodernist" label. I think some thinkers tend to be dismissed too quickly as a result of this; either that, or the explanatory force of their ideas are reduced to cliches that don't have as much impact as they could.

[Karlito]

Great post, I agree with all you said here...And yes post structuralism (ie Foucault) is often mixed up with postmodernism. It is a confusing label...I tend to use it in a derogatory fashion at times, especially for research with lousy conceptualizations. But I am still interested in reading good things about it.

[Darth.Vegan]

Ha, you can't ignore Foucault. A lot of recent critical sociology is based off of Foucault's concepts.

Edited May 4, 2012 by xdarthveganx

[AaronM]

in my social theory class, the main theorist used to introduce postmodernism was Foucault (hence the snarky do acid in the desert comment) so I'm with darthvegan, he's probably a good place to start

[Karlito]

Not that I disagree and that I ignore Foucault. I am in fact relatively well acquainted with him, esp. the things on knowledge, the human sciences, etc. This being said, he is a general theorist to me, not a sociologist per se (not that this boundary is absolute but this topic was specifically about thinkers whose primary hat would be that of a sociologist). Also, DarthVegan, you are right about his influence on critical sociology; this being said, critical sociology (this label is fairly blurry anyway) does not equate postmodernism, I think.

Edited May 5, 2012 by Karlito

[Darth.Vegan]

The lines also get blurred between anthro, soc, and political geography.

[gaygaygay]

Dear Karlito,

It is very nice that you want to read about postmodernism in summer thinking that you will not confront it in fall. I have to share my experience about how I started to build my knowledge on postmodernism.

First read writers who wrote on the founders of postmodern roots. From a sociological point of view, Steven Seidman (the sociologist) writes very nice, and also about postmodernism and social reality. This is going to give you a very good idea about the place of postmodernist thought in social research.

You can also read books on Foucault. You can use Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as well (that is online and free) Jana Sawicki once wrote on Foucault's importance for Feminist Politics. If you check carefully, you can find it in an edited book on feminism. You can read Sawicki as well. She is also very clear.

The most important is that you can not learn postmodernist thought simply reading texts. It is being deployed around us, in activism, art circles, behaviours, design, etc.

Also read Althusser (ISAs) carefully, it is a root of postmodern disscussions of our times.

Best,

C.

Edited May 5, 2012 by Sexuality&Power

[Karlito]

Thank you S&P for your input, too!

[tt503]

Sorry, but I do not find it postmodern, really. It's more of an ethnomethodological approach.

I thought we were just suggesting readings for the summer, not necessarily post modern approaches. My bad.

[MyNamesNotRick]

I think the best place to enter postmodernism is through gender.

Judith Butler's Gender Trouble tends to be the person everyone puts out there.

Queer studies also does a good job of discussing the postmodern perspective.

Anything Judith Halberstam is good person in that regard.

Spivak if you want to start looking at class relations in the post modernist perspective.

And for a methodology David Muggleton and his book "Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style" gives a nice way to actaully apply postmodernism in research (which subsequently, is a relatively straighfoward way of doing qualitative ethnographic research).