CROSS CULTURAL

COMMUNICATION
4th Week
Post-modernism
Like post-industrialism and post-fordism, post-modernism is
essentially the concept of opposition. It takes its meaning from what it
claims to be excluded or exceeded. It also takes from what it contains
or endorses in a positive sense.
The primary or initial meaning of post-modernism is that it is not
modernism, it is not modernity.
Modernity is over.
But many post-modernists hastily add that this does not mean that we
are living in a completely new age beyond which we go beyond
modernity.
The post-modernity has a double meaning.
The term Postmodernism, first thought to have been used
by Arnold Toynbee in a 1939 work, is expressed in extremely complex
and difficult philosophical terms on the one hand, due to the lack of real discussion of
the subject, but also on the other is defined by simple expressions.
Postmodern knowledge is an effort to liberate against the
monopoly of scientific knowledge that occurs in the modern
process (Lyotard, 1994: 9).
Postmodernism advocates fragmentation.
Postmodern people despise all kinds of integration and synthesis, whether social,
informative or even aesthetic.
Post-Modernity
Postmodernity involves a questioning of a modernist epistemology
based on a clear distinction between subject and object.
Other things said in describing postmodernity concern the ‘incredulity toward
metanarratives’ (Lyotard) – meaning that no global explanation of conduct is credible
in an age of purposive rationality.
Modernity-Postmodernity
Most discussions on postmodernity agree that it is not a phase beyond
modernity but represents the most advanced , and possibly final, stage of
modernity .
It might be said that if modernity entailed a strong sense of a
beginning , as expressed in an emphasis on the 'new ' and the 'now' ,
Postmodernity , in the closing decade of the twentieth century , signaled a
sense of an ending , the ending of a century and millennium (Delanty,
2000)
Postmodernity is deeply rooted in the culture of modernity , just
as modernity itself was rooted in the premodern worldview .
What is called postmodernism is a diffuse set of ideas , ranging
from the strictly aesthetic dimension of culture to its normative
and cognitive dimensions (Delanty, 2000)
After the unfavorable effects of modernity were felt, discussions emerged that we
entered a post-modern era.
The discussions of post-modernism have been shaped around elements such as
identity which modernity ignored.
The concepts of globalization and postmodernism are progressing together.
Globalization derives its theoretical and ideological foundations from
postmodern theory that emphasizes diversity, regionalism and pluralism, and
multicultural policies that attempt to build identities on differences rather than
similarities.
Globalization has had the most transformative impact on the cultural field.
Globalization is aimed at identifying the basic values, collective images and symbols
that shape societies' daily living practices.

From this point of view, it is thought that globalization, which connects different
geographies, cultures and values of the world, provides communication and
interaction between societies and creates a common ground between people by
making similarities, differences, particularities and localities visible.
Postmodernism can be defined as a trend, thought, ideology or a new situation
that reverses the values raised by modernity.
Some thinkers see postmodernity not as a critique of modernity but as an
enlightened state of modernity itself.
Some thinkers regard it as a narrative that offers alternative paradigms and is a
response to the problem arising from it as well as a differentiation from modernity
and a rebellion against it.
Different terms about postmodernity
Giddens, for example, used concepts such as late modernity,
Beck: intellectual modernity,
Balandier: transmodernity,
Bauman: Postmodern,
Jamerson, logic of late capitalism,
Huyssen, neo-modernism,
Argue, uppermodernism,
Gellner, and the age of relativity.
These different definitions tell us that the process in question it is both different and
beyond.
Postmodernism strives to decentralize the self, to reject priorities, and to reverse the
stories that have happened, and its entire purpose is to destroy the
project of modernity, which it sees as a great narrative.
Postmodernism deconstructs the epistemic foundations of modernity such as truth, reality
and objectivity, scientificity, certainty, and universality, and its anger towards such concepts
leads to deep skepticism and reductionism.
It starts by breaking down the basic values that modernity stands out and nurtures.
For example, Foucault proclaims the death of man,
Derrida, care,
Bartes Author, and
Nietszche the God.
Other leading postmodern writers, such as Lyotard, Baudrillard, Bell, Habermas, Vattimo
and Jamesrson, showed a similar attitude.
Postmodern literature; presents a decentralized, unfounded, derivative and eclectic
structure by emphasizing uncertainty against certainty, disorder against order,
discipline, flexibility, difference against similarity, plurality against particularity.
It questions determinism, egalitarianism, humanism, liberal democracy,
necessity, rationality and responsibility (Rosenau, 2004).
Definitions of Postmodernism
Lyotard (1984), the theorist of postmodern epistemology, defines Postmodernism
as a trans-modern, even anti-modern movement, thought and new situation that
tries to make differences effective.

According to Bauman (2003: 131), while freedom, equality and brotherhood are the
slogans of modernity, freedom, difference and tolerance have become the formula
of postmodernity.
The anger of the postmodernists against the design of modernity is due to the
fact that this order did not bring happiness and prosperity to humanity, and led
to totalitarian regimes, leading to inequality and injustice in many areas.
The anger of the postmodernists against the design of modernity is due to the fact
that this order did not bring happiness and prosperity to humanity, and led to
totalitarian regimes, leading to inequality and injustice in many areas.
However, modernity was the age of certainty (Bauman, 1996: 152) and promised
humanity an objective science, a universal morality and a humanist rule (Sarup,
1997: 207).
Reason will prevail in faith; mankind will be the measure of all objects; nature would
be defeated and offered to the service of mankind, and time would be measured by a
transition from darkness to light, that is, an implicit moral theory of evolution and a
transition known as progress (Jenks, 2007: 183).
Lyotard (1984) finds the greatest dilemma of modernity in the principle of
universality.
According to him, every kind of knowledge that modernity tries to adopt and
universalize as truth does not make people with their own self and existential
identities, but makes them objects that can be constantly changed, obeyed and
dominated.
This leads to distortion of reality and the absolutization of the information presented.
On the other hand, this kind of knowledge produced leads to the establishment of
pressure and domination on the individual and society.
In modern times, dominant identities saw minority identities as «other and
foreign groups», and in their view, these other and foreigners had to be
corrected to resemble them.
Their presence was not only a disturbing and worrying situation, but also the assets
that needed to be assimilated were like herbs to be extracted in the garden (Bauman,
2000: 32). Modernity embarked upon this precondition for a cleaning movement.
Postmodernism, therefore, is most criticized the identity politics of modernity.
It opposes the homogenizing identity policy of the nation-state and advocates for
intercultural equality, ethnic, linguistic, religious and sectarian specificities and
the rights of marginalized groups - homosexuals, gays, lesbians, hippies, rockers
- who are excluded and disadvantaged from society.
Although postmodernism emphasizes differences and particularity,
Although it appears to be the spokesman of the victimized segments, the global
capital, which takes advantage of the opportunity of postmodern ideology which
allows everything, does not refrain from turning cultural values into objects of
consumption and so postmodernism mediates the emergence of a new social
totality (Featherstone, 2005: 22).
Postmodernism blesses
differences as long as they
are not harmful.
It places local cultures as
a toy in universal western
culture.
The greatest claim of postmodernism was to re-stage and center the cultures and
identities that were marginalized and pushed out of the system by modernity.
However, although he claims to be equal and impartial to all, this is not the case.
Postmodernism creates the illusion of multiculturalism by reducing all cultures
and traditions to a single domain.

Postmodernism can be as exclusive and censored as the orthodoxies it opposes, even

though it boasted of being open to the other.
For example, human culture is often mentioned, but the class is not spoken, the body
is handled, biology is not taken, pleasure and pleasure are mentioned, justice is not
addressed, post-colonialism is the subject, but petty bourgeoisie is not.
Disadvantages of Postmodernism
Post modernism is a critique of modernism.
It deals with issues such as culture and identity that modernism has
difficulty explaining.
It identifies the importance of identities and cultural differences. But while
emphasizing these differences, it does not address the issues that it should address
and these differences in the context of aesthetics and nihilism become an object of
consumption within modernity.
The issue of globalization of culture should be dealt with in connection with the issue
of postmodernism.
The dissemination of the new cultural form presented as the end of history along with
the post-modernism and globalization processes takes place through the mass media.
Global culture makes use of the media both to promote local cultures and to promote
popular culture.
Everything is changing. At first, the media in Europe promoted the principle of
public interest, and now the dominance of capital in the media field came to the fore.
Although nation states protect their borders, capital has crossed borders and cultural
transitions between globalization and borders have emerged. Mass media are the
tools that provide the transitions between cultures and spread the global culture to the
whole world.
Especially after the discovery of television, services and ideas emerged to integrate
even the most distant parts of the world with the international media community.
According to Schiller, the greatest result of globalization is the cultural dominance of
transnational conglomerates.
Radio, Television and ultimately the Internet tied the farthest distances to justify
McLuhan's global village prediction.
The postmodern understanding spread by the mechanism of globalization shows its
effect in society, art and media.
According to the postmodern understanding, we are now at the end of physical
reality.
Globalızatıon As a Consequence of
Modernıty
Anthony Giddens defines globalisation as the intensification of worldwide social
relations linking distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by
events occurring many thousands of miles away and vice versa.
Although every attempt at classifying the processes of globalisation necessarily
results in oversimplification and a reduction of complexity,
Giddens defines four dimensions of globalisation.
4 dımensıons
of globalızatıon
1-The most obvious one is the
world capitalist economy.
“The main centres of power in
the world economy are capitalist
states – states in which capitalist
economic enterprise is the chief
form of production
If nation-states are the principle “actors” within the global political order,
corporations are the dominant agents within the world economy” (Giddens
1991:70/71). The influence of any particular state within the global political order is
strongly conditioned by its level of wealth (and the connection between this and
military strength)
The biggest transnational companies today have budgets larger than those of all
but a few nations. But there are some key respects in which their power cannot
rival that of states – especially important here are the factors of territoriality
and control of the means of violence.
2- Natıon state system

2-The nation-state system, the second

dimension of globalisation, has long
participated in the reflexivity characteristic of
modernity as a whole.
“The very existence of sovereignty should be
understood as something that is reflexively
monitored.
Sovereignty is linked to the replacement of
“frontiers” by “borders” in the early
development of the nation-state system:
autonomy inside the territory claimed by the
state is sanctioned by the recognition of borders
by other states.”
(Giddens 1991: 72-74)
3-World Mılıtary order
“The third dimension is the world military order. As a
result of the massive destructive power of modern
weaponry, almost all states possess military strength
far in excess of that of even the largest of pre-modern
civilisations. Many economically weak Third World
countries are militarily powerful.
During the Cold War, the two most militarily
developed states, the United States and the Soviet
Union, built a bipolar system of military alliances of
truly global scope. The countries involved in these
alliances necessarily accept limitations over their
opportunities to forge independent military strategies
externally.“ (Giddens 1991: 74/75)
4-Industrıal development
“The fourth dimension of globalisation concerns industrial development. The most
obvious aspect
of this is the expansion of the global (international) division of labour, which includes
the
differentiation between more and less industrialised areas in the world.
Modern industry is intrinsically based on division of labour, not only on the level of
job tasks but on that of regional specialisation in terms of type of industry, skills, and
the production of raw materials.
There has undoubtedly taken place a major
expansion of global interdependence in the division
of labour since the Second World War. […]
One of the main features of the globalising
implication of industrialism is the worldwide
diffusion of technologies. The impact of
industrialism is plainly not limited to the spheres of
production, but affects many aspects of day-to-day
life, as well as influencing the generic character of
human interaction with the material environment. [
Mike O’Donnell (2001) divides globalization theorists into two general camps:
Optimists who adopt a liberal pluralist perspective and think that the world
community is evolving into a more egalitarian and more global society;
Pessimists who adopt a Marxist or post-modern perspective, see capitalism and its
pursuit of profit as a threat, and think that the West and its capitalist allies are
heading towards world control and world domination.

http://sosyolojisi.com/kuresellesme-anthony-giddens/5845.html
Anthony Giddens generally writes from a liberal perspective and describes globalization as follows:

As a result of the development of interdependencies that affect everyone, the world has de facto become a single
social system. The global system is not limited to an environment in which certain societies develop and change.

The intersecting social, political and economic ties between countries have a decisive influence on the destiny of the
inhabitants. The general term describing the increasing interdependence of the world is ‘globalization ((Giddens 1997:
63-64).

According to Giddens, the world of late modernity is not a post-modern world that is completely different from its
predecessors. It is at an advanced stage of modernity; it reflects the tendencies and forces of the past, but in a very
different way from the world of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. It is not only different in nature, but also in the speed
and direction of change, and in the capacity of people to control it. Giddens defines modernity as an inferno truck [1]:
Like his predecessors, Giddens identifies three key elements in the globalization process:

Economic - the development of global markets and an increase in the power of modern
multinational companies such as Sony or Ford with world-class markets and factories;
Development of global ideas, images and identities created by cultural - mass media and
satellite broadcasts;
Transition to political-international diplomacy, transition from the European Union and
the United Nations to the South-East Asian Nations Association (ASEAN), with the rise
of supranational and worldwide governing bodies and networks.
Cultural Globalization
Globalization, on the one hand, puts the cultural plurality and individual identity at
the center and offers the possibility of expressing themselves to all segments of the
society.
As a result, it opens the door to the expansionist policies of global capitalism.

http://dergi.neu.edu.tr/public/journals/7/yazardizini/duman-m-z-
2009-nisan.pdf
Globalization of Culture
The argument that the West tries to dominate
by spreading its cultural values to the rest of
the world constitutes the most important
dimension of the debates on globalization.
Globalization, which symbolizes the
imprisonment of the world in a single space
and the close communication of societies; It is
thought that there is a development in favor of
the West, that it has disadvantages for the
undeveloped countries outside the West and
that the national governments do not show
enough precautions against this situation.
What is meant by the concept of globalization fully emphasizes this fact. Now we
can say that the ground under our feet is not stable, and that everything can change at
any time.

Bauman (1997: 69) defines globalization as follows: globalization is the escape of

things.

According to him, the deepest meaning deriving from the idea of globalization is the
uncertain, unregulated and self-commanding nature of world affairs. It is the absence
of a center, a control desk, a board of directors, an administrative office. ”
Globalization derives its theoretical and ideological foundations from postmodern
theory that emphasizes diversity, regionalism and pluralism, and multicultural
policies that attempt to build identities on differences rather than similarities.

This also points to the collapse of the nation-state model built by the modernity
project, which has a history of four hundred years.

http://dergi.neu.edu.tr/public/journals/7/yazardizini/duman-m-z-
2009-nisan.pdf