"Postmodern Social Theory"

Abstract

My intentions are to review the major themes and problematics that have emerged over the last decade in postmodern social theory (see Foster 1983; Bernstein 1985; Jameson 1983, 1984a; Huyssen 1984; Jencks 1985; Newman 1985). I will examine the works of two leading French postmodern theorists, Lyotard (1971, 1974, 1984) and Baudrillard (1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1981, 1983a, 1983b, 1983c) against the backdrop of the poststructuralist and Critical Theory formulations of Barthes, Lacan, Althusser, Levi-Strauss, Derrida and Habermas. I hope to relate American social theory more closely to postmodern formulations. At the same time it is my desire to make social theory more alive to the current crises that grip the present world economic and cultural structures (Denzin 1986). Because Lyotard and Baudrillard offer explicit and implicit critiques of the Frankfurt School and Habermas, it will be necessary to briefly speak to Habermas's theory of communicative action (1975, 1983) as it applies to the legitimation crisis in post-capitalist societies. I will take up in order the following topics: (1) the current state of American social theory; (2) a brief discussion of the defining characteristics of postmodern theory; (3) an analysis of the major themes in Baudrillard and Lyotard's works; (4) a discussion of the Habermas critique of postmodernism and postmodern theory; (5) a set of proposals concerning the future directions social theory and empirical research might take, in light of the postmodern critique.