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"Modernity" is that period roughly associated with twentieth century Western ideas about art (although traces of it in emergent forms can be found in the nineteenth century as well), in which science established facts, political theory established the social state, secularism overcame religious opinion, and the notion of shame was denied or explained away with various social conventions. It was an era dominated by the thought of Freud and Marx. Its tendency was toward the legitimacy of the social welfare state. Steven Connor (1989) says that the "concept of postmodernism cannot be said to have crystallized until about the mid-1970's . . ." Modernity had received some strong criticism, and it was becoming more and more viable to assert that the postmodern had come to stay. Postmodernism is characterized by the emergence of the postindustrial information economy, replacing the previous classes of aristocracy, middle class, and working class with the new paradigm: information elite, middle class, and underclass. The phrase also implies a nation-state challenged by new world views: feminism, multiculturalism, environmentalism, etc; with old scientific certainties called into question. Postmodernism rejects the modernist ideals of rationality and individualism, it is in favor of being anti-capitalist and contemptuous of traditional morality. The most recent feature of postmodernism is the rise of political correctness. Postmodernism is anti-worldview. It denies the existence of any universal truth or standards. Postmodern theorists move away from the notions of the Enlightenment which believed that the world and the self were somehow "whole" and graspable through the exercise of reason. Postmodernity is seen as involving an end of the dominance of an overarching belief in scientific rationality, the replacement of theories of representation and truth, and increased emphasis on the importance of the unconscious, on free-floating signs and images, and a plurality of viewpoints. Jean-Francois Lyotard's The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979) is often said to represent the beginning of postmodern thought. Lyotard, perhaps the most influential writer in postmodern thought, defines postmodernism as "incredulity towards metanarratives." A metanarrative is a worldview: a network of basic assumptions of which every aspect of our experience and knowledge is interpreted. Lyotard argues that all aspects of modern societies rely on 'grand narratives’.
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