Have we moved from modern to postmodern society, and can the old grand theories still explain a fragmented, globalised world?
Synoptic: the debate between modernity and postmodernity, including postmodernist theory (Lyotard, Baudrillard) and theories of late or liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck, Bauman), and the implications for sociology.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to the modernity versus postmodernity debate. Covers postmodernism (Lyotard's incredulity towards metanarratives, Baudrillard's hyperreality), late and liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck's risk society, Bauman), and the implications for sociology, with the exam skills the theory questions reward.
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What this dot point is asking
OCR Sociology asks whether society has moved from modernity to postmodernity, and whether the old grand theories can still explain a fragmented, globalised, digital world. You need postmodernism (Lyotard, Baudrillard), the theories of late or liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck, Bauman), and the implications for sociology. This debate underpins the globalisation and identity topics.
The answer
Modernity and the postmodern challenge
Postmodernists argue modernity has ended. Lyotard describes an incredulity towards metanarratives: people no longer believe the big stories (science, Marxism, religion) that once claimed to explain everything, so knowledge becomes fragmented and relative. Baudrillard describes hyperreality, a media-saturated world of simulations and signs that become more real than reality, where identity is built through consumption and image rather than fixed structures.
Late and liquid modernity
Other theorists argue we are not in a new era but in an intensified modernity:
- Giddens stresses reflexivity: in late modernity we constantly monitor and remake our lives, and the self becomes a reflexive project.
- Beck describes a risk society facing new, manufactured risks (climate change, technology) that cut across class.
- Bauman describes liquid modernity, in which institutions, work and identity become fluid and uncertain, but this is modernity in a new phase, not its end.
Implications for sociology
The debate has profound implications. If postmodernists are right, the grand theories (especially Marxism) are obsolete, and sociology should study fragmented meanings and media rather than seek overarching explanations. Critics respond that structural inequalities of class, gender and ethnicity persist, that postmodernism risks relativism, and that it is self-contradictory: rejecting all metanarratives is itself a metanarrative.
Examples in context
A top essay weighs the postmodern claim of a new era against the late-modernity view of continuity, applies examples, and judges, recognising the implications for whether grand theory survives.
Try this
Q1. Outline two features of postmodern society. [4 marks]
- What the marker wants. Two features (AO1, two marks each): incredulity towards metanarratives (Lyotard), and hyperreality or identity through consumption (Baudrillard), each briefly developed.
Q2. Outline and explain two criticisms of postmodernism. [10 marks]
- Cue. Two developed points: it neglects persisting structural inequalities of class, gender and ethnicity, and it is self-contradictory because rejecting all metanarratives is itself a metanarrative, each applied to an example.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H580 201910 marksOutline and explain two features of a postmodern society. [10]Show worked answer →
An Outline and explain question (AO1 and AO2). Each feature needs development and an applied example.
Feature one. Incredulity towards metanarratives: Lyotard argues people no longer believe the big stories (such as science or Marxism) that once explained everything, so knowledge is fragmented, for example a pick-and-mix of beliefs.
Feature two. Hyperreality: Baudrillard argues media images and signs become more real than reality, for example influencers and brands shaping identity. The top band applies an example to each.
OCR H580 202120 marksAssess the view that we now live in a postmodern society. [20]Show worked answer →
A synoptic theory essay (AO1, AO2 and AO3), shown at the 20-mark cap, marked by levels of response.
For. Postmodernists (Lyotard, Baudrillard) argue society is now fragmented, media-saturated and based on choice and consumption, with identity fluid and metanarratives rejected, fitting a globalised, digital world.
Against. Theorists of late or liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck, Bauman) argue we are in an intensified modernity, not a new era; structural inequalities of class, gender and ethnicity persist, and postmodernism is criticised as self-contradictory (it is itself a metanarrative).
Judgement. Society has changed towards fragmentation and consumption, but late-modernity theories better capture the continuity of structure, so "postmodern" overstates the break. This balance reaches the top band.
Related dot points
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An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to functionalism and Marxism, the two structural theories. Covers functionalism (Durkheim, Parsons's value consensus, Merton's manifest and latent functions) and Marxism (Marx's class conflict, Gramsci's hegemony, Althusser's ideological state apparatuses), with the consensus versus conflict debate and the exam skills the theory questions reward.
- Synoptic: the feminist theories (liberal, radical, Marxist and difference or intersectional) and the interactionist or social action perspective (Mead, Goffman, Becker), and how each challenges structural consensus and conflict theory.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to feminism and interactionism. Covers the feminist theories (liberal Oakley, radical Walby, Marxist, difference and intersectional Crenshaw) and the social action perspective (Mead, Goffman's dramaturgy, Becker's labelling), and how each challenges structural theory, with the exam skills the theory questions reward.
- Synoptic: the structure versus agency debate, the question of whether sociology can be scientific and value-free (Weber, Gouldner, Becker), and the relationship between sociology, values and social policy.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to the structure versus agency debate and the question of value freedom. Covers structural versus social action theories, attempts to combine them (Giddens's structuration), and the debate about objectivity and values in research (Weber, Gouldner, Becker), with the exam skills the theory questions reward.
- Component 3 Section A: the concept of globalisation in its economic, cultural and political dimensions, and the competing theoretical positions of hyperglobalists (optimists), pessimists (sceptics) and transformationalists.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 3 guide to globalisation. Covers the economic, cultural and political dimensions, and the hyperglobalist, pessimist and transformationalist theories (Held, Giddens, Castells, Harvey), with the concepts of time-space compression and the network society and the exam skills the debates paper rewards.
- Component 1 Section A: the social construction of identity, the distinction between personal and social identity, and the sources of identity (social class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, disability and nationality), including hybridity and the postmodern view of fluid identity.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 1 guide to identity. Covers the social construction of identity, personal versus social identity, the sources of identity (class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, disability, nationality), hybridity and the postmodern view of fluid, fragmented identity, with the theorists and exam skills Section A rewards.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR AS and A Level Sociology (H180, H580) specification — OCR (2015)