A COMPARATIVE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE FROM MODERNISM TO POSTMODERNISM: IS POSTMODERNISM A CONTINUATION OF MODERNISM? OR A REACTION?

Abstract

Since the second half of the 20th century, postmodernism has been perceived in three different ways by many segments of society. The first group considers it anti-modernism, which is the most popular view. The second group sees it as a continuation of modernism. The third group sees it as a structure formed by the fusion of both modernism and postmodernism, exposing society to negative effects. Different approaches to the word have led to an endless and vicious cycle of debates about it in scholarly circles.

The elitist attitude of modernism transforms into a populist structure in postmodernism. This structure embraces diversity in a flexible form. Instead of a single truth, it has become one that attributes the relativity of truths. Postmodernism completely rejects the prominent characteristics of modernism and Enlightenment thought, such as order, symmetry, rational harmony, and notions of progress and morality, all of which derive their origins from Ancient Greece. Instead of central thought, decentering has been used, subject instead of object, anarchy instead of hierarchy, hybridity instead of unity in art, heterogeneity instead of homogeneity, fantasy instead of reality, and a populist pluralistic structure instead of an unquestionable elitist understanding of reality.

This article will attempt to clarify postmodernism by examining its historical background through related words: modern, modernity, modernity, modernism, postmodernity, and postmodernism. While it is impossible to provide a definitive meaning to the word, another aim of this study is to reveal the existence of existing debates in a single study.