Power in Postmodern Society: Between the Planes of Reality and Communication

Abstract

The generally accepted statement about the postmodern character of today’s world does not provide a clue to understanding its essence. We just know that from this point of view, it is already modernist. However, the concepts of postmodernism are extremely diverse and depend on the subjectivity of their authors. Basically, a central question arises that remains unanswered: will postmodernism appear after modernism as evolution, or is it a criticism of modernism, rejection, a kind of general disappointment? For some, truly postmodernism is a disappointment of rationality. By contrast, neoconservatives rejoice in postmodernism. Nevertheless, their postmodern world is free from any substance, from any essence. They offer a kind of modernism, without a soul and without a Man, since everything must be “rendered harmless” in advance and, preferably, without excesses. It is a kind of sad utopia. In both cases, there is denial: either open — by the critics of postmodernism; or hidden — by “our own”.