Postmodern paradigm explained

Postmodern paradigm or postmodernism is a complex field of study drawing mainly on the work of critical theorists and poststructuralists in the area of language and philosophy. It is one of the most radically transformative and interdisciplinary intellectual movements that reject the conventional styles of academic discourse. Instead, it embraces heterogeneity, difference, fragmentation, and indeterminacy.

Postmodernism is called ‘post’ because it denies the existence of any ‘ultimate principles’ that modernist believe will explain everything for everybody. That is, it has a desire to transcend the limitation of the modernist view that is so dominant in Western academic discourse. Modernism is strongly rooted in the idea that objectivity and rationalism can uncover the truth or the ‘ultimate principle’ to explain a phenomenon of interest. Postmodernism has a great distrust of and incredulity towards such ‘totalizing’ discourse or meta-narratives (the big ‘stories’ of modernist scholarship). But modernism has its limitations. Postmodernists often point to the lack of reflection and awareness of the ethical and moral implications of the modernist approach.

To understand postmodernism better, let’s first look at modernism and symbolic interactionism.

Modernism

Modernism is a paradigm that focuses attention on causal explanation, which requires defining the antecedents and consequences of the phenomenon of interest. Its methods rely on empiricism and rationalism (logical reasoning). That is, it is guided by objective ontology and positivist epistemology. Modernists also believe in social and moral progress through the rational application of social scientific theories to the arts and social institutions. Hence, scientists and theorists who believe strongly in this paradigm, put a great deal of energy and time into developing, testing, and applying mathematical methods to confirm causal inferences based on the quantitative methodology of data collection and analysis. Experimental research, survey research, and correlational research are examples of research methods that adopt this paradigm.

Symbolic interactionism / Symbolic interpretivism

Symbolic interactionism is a paradigm that sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but are created through interactions. It is guided by subjective ontology and interpretivist epistemology. Scientists and theorists who believe strongly in this paradigm put a great deal of effort in understanding how people create and give meaning to their experience in their day to day interactions and study the world as emergent social processes, mainly through the eyes of the participants. It assumes that those meanings are not inherent but are created through interactions. Ethnography, phenomenology, and narrative research are examples of research methods that adopt this paradigm.

Postmodern paradigm

Postmodernists take a different approach compared to the other two. The postmodernist paradigm suggests that social reality is diverse, pluralistic, and constantly in flux. Let’s break this down to understand what it means and let’s start with ontology and epistemology so that we can understand the paradigm properly.

Postmodern Ontology

Ontology is the branch of philosophy that studies reality, that is, what is real and what is not. Previously, we have talked about objective reality (something that exists independent of our knowledge of it and something that can be verified by others) and subjective reality (something exists only because of our subjective awareness of it). Postmodernism, on the other hand, argues that for objective and subjective reality to exist we need language to talk about it. That is, language gives us, and things surrounding us, an existence. Because we can convey the existence or subjective awareness of reality, language becomes an extremely important element in bringing everything into existence. They argue that our world is not mirrored in language, but is rather created through language. When we talk about things we bring them into existence. In postmodern ontology, things are created when we speak or write about them, that is, they exist linguistically, but only in text or discourse. It argues that nothing exists separate from renderings of it in speech, writing, or other forms of expression; the world is made to appear in language, discourse, and artwork.

For example, gravitational force always existed but until Newton gave a name to it, we never talked about it. It was as if gravity never existed for us. Pluto was considered to be a planet but now we recognize that it is just debris in the cosmos. The existence of Pluto has not changed, it is still out there in our solar system, but the way we talk about it has changed. We brought Pluto into existence and then removed it. So, how we talk and what we talk about brings things into existence. Earlier our reality was that the earth is the center of the solar system. Now it is not. Another contemporary example is taking a “Selfie.” We created the word that brought that behavior into existence.

We are also limited by language. For example, how does a rose smell? I guess, rosy?! But since we do not have a word for it, we never talk about it. As if it did not exist! Discourse, thus, provides a context that enables and constrains how language is used. ADHD was brought into existence by medical professionals. Another example is obesity. How we measure obesity keeps changing. First, we use to measure weight and height as a measure of obesity, then it was BMI index, and now it is the waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio. So who gets classified as obese keeps on changing. Many athletes who had a high BMI as defined by the earlier system, were treated differently because of the change in the measure. Consumption of pot was illegal in many states but now it’s not. So, language not only constitutes us but creates and legitimates different ideas about our world. In that sense, nothing exists separate from renderings of it in speech, writing, or other forms of expression. Reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually. We live in a linguistically created world!

Postmodern Epistemology

Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that studies how we know and what counts as knowledge. Postmodern epistemology is based on postmodern ontology. It argues that if there is no independent reality except for its rendering and interpretations, then there cannot be absolute truth or knowledge to be discovered. Truth, in that sense, is an empty concept. All you can have are just “claims” to the truth until a more widely accepted claim arises.

Since discourse enables and constrains what becomes ‘real’, those who have better access to or can influence discourse yield more power. Every claim to knowledge or truth then turns into a power play. And those given the right to decide which truth claims will be honored will have the ability to dominate a community. When the distribution of power changes, what is considered truth shifts, or the claim changes. In this light, scientific facts are mere agreements within communities of scientists to regard certain claims as true, since scientists dominate and influence the discourse.

In the ’60s there was this push towards chemistry and everything, including eating and nutrition, was dictated by what chemicals are needed and how we can get them. Infant formula milk was considered to be the best as all the needed elements could be added. The ‘truth’ of that time was infant formula milk was considered better than mother’s milk. Now we know that the chemical composition of the infant formula is not the same as mother’s milk and the benefits of breast milk are long-lasting and cannot be replicated. Alcoholism in the early 1920s and 30s was considered to be a social problem. Now we know that it is a medical condition. At the same time, alcoholics were jailed for the consumption of alcohol. At one point in time, mentally ill people were ‘treated’ with an electrical shock. Now we have moved to better ways of supporting mentally ill patients. Thus the claim or truth keeps changing as the distribution of power changes. Foucault studied the consequences of such practices and power wielded by normativity. He argued that knowledge yields power as it is used as a primary tool to decide what is considered ‘normal’ and what is not. And those who do not comply with the code of normativity are treated as deviants who can be disciplined or institutionalized. Such narratives are intellectually and politically totalitarian. It silences the opposition.

Postmodern critics highlight that such rationalist meta-narratives (the big ‘stories’ of modernist scholarship such as societal progress through unquestioned belief in science) are neither universal nor objective. But are rather a product of a particular socio-historical context that produces the discourse. Society has in the past and at present continues to endure the abuse of power justified under the name of progress. Colonialism being one example. Mary Jo Hatch argues that “emancipation from linguistically induced exploitation can be gained only through awareness of how language embedded in discourse produces reality” (p. 14). The way to accomplish this is by allowing the marginalized to participate in the discourse, encouraging a reflexive questioning of taken-for-granted assumptions and practices, and seeing how the power that knowledge conveys might affect the marginalized. Occupy movement, Black Lifes Matter, Women’s March, March for our lives, Me too, etc. are all important steps towards emancipation from social injustices by influencing the prevailing discourse in our society. It also has the potential to change the discursive reality that we oppose.

Bibliography

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