Modernity and Postmodernity: The Turn in Contemporary Sociocultural Theory (3rd Edition)

What is modernity? What is postmodernity?
What is the relationship between the two? What are their future trends?
How do they relate to the contemporary socio-cultural landscape?

These are questions that must be addressed when contemplating contemporary social phenomena. Postmodernity presupposes modernity, and modernity anchors postmodernity; only by understanding modernity can postmodernity be situated. However, paradoxically, recent attention to and research on modernity has been driven by the interests and perspectives of postmodernity. This book begins by examining modernity and modernization, with the first chapter embodying a historical perspective, namely, the encounter or clash between the modern West and non-Western societies (primarily Taiwan and China) from the viewpoint of modernity. The book successively examines theories such as modernization theory, world-systems theory, and the theories of Giddens, Lyotard, Baudrillard, and Foucault, as well as theories concerning subjectivity, identity, and the self, theories of postmodern art, and theories regarding the social foundations of postmodern culture. In doing so, it both reflects on the origins, development, and meaning of modernity, and explores and anticipates the meaning and direction of postmodernity.