Postmodernity

Postmodernityexplores the key issues that arise in debates over modernity and postmodernity. It aims to provide students with stimulating and accessible introduction to both the contentious notion of postmodernity and the major themes and issues addressed in associated debates over the limits of modernity. Barry Smart ranges widely across the social, economic, political and cultural institutions and practices with which the idea of postmodernity has been articulated. Smart focuses on postmodernity, and the possible emergence of new social, economic, political and cultural configurations signifying a breach from modernity, a new condition or mood, or a distinctly critical way of facing up to modern forms of life. Special attention is given to the analysis of "new times" and processes of globalization with which a condition of postmodernity has been associated. Another major theme of the text is the implication of postmodern conditions for knowledge, sociology, politics and sociallife.