High Modernity High Modernity

 Jean Baudrillard and Francois Lyotard are Postmodern theorists  Anthony Giddens and David Harvey are theorists of Postmodernity  They examined Postmodern theory and suggested that rather than accept that society is now in a Postmodern phase we should consider that we are experiencing a phase of HIGH or LATE MODERNITY

Anthony Giddens  Giddens does not accept the assertion that we are living in a Postmodern age.  He does accept, however that significant changes have taken place within the period of Modernity  These changes are still actively altering society and he believes that we could be entering Postmodernity in the future

The relevance of Metanarratives  Giddens does not accept that all Enlightenment thinking must be abandoned  He does not believe that Metanarratives no longer have a place in our understanding of society  He does believe that the basic principles of sociological theories remain valid and relevant to today’s society

David Harvey  David Harvey too accepts that important changes have taken place in society  He particularly disagrees that Metanarratives have outlived their usefulness as he uses Marxism as a basis for his analysis  He puts a particular emphasis on economic factors as a force of change  Harvey argues that a capitalist economic system remains at the heart of Western society

 Although critical of Baudrillard, could Harvey’s emphasis on capitalism be useful in explaining his theory on the development of signs?  Is High Modernity a more useful theory when examining our present Western society?