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Postmodern Social Analysis and Criticism
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John W. Murphy
Book Code: MMS/
ISBN: 0-313-26683-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-26683-6
185 pages
Greenwood Press
Publication: 6/15/1989
List Price: $78.95 (UK Sterling Price: £44.95)
Availability: Print on demand
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Contributions in Sociology
Series Number: 79
Reviews:
  • Murphy has managed to do in this book what was thought impossible: to provide a brief but comprehensive introduction to postmodernism that defends the movement without indulging in any of the bombast and special pleading that is characteristic of postmodernist writing. He develops the postmodernist position by contrasting it with both modernist and traditional forms of social analysis on a variety of research and practical issues, including the possibility of community justice and community-based mental health care. Murphy is especially adept at interlacing quotations from disparate sources to demonstrate the existence of a coherent and sophisticated postmodernist politics. The book is distinctive in the attention paid to postmodernist religious attitudes, particularly the impact of Hasidic Judaism and Martin Buber on the interpersonalism of Jean-Francois Lyotard (The Postmodern Condition, 1984). Postmodernists might quarrel with Murphy's efforts to `normalize' their movement, as well as with his coziness with phenomenology and existentialism. However, the book's clear and honest treatment of this fashionable topic should earn it many admirers among researchers and students. Recommended for academic libraries.
    —Choice
  • In this clearly-organized and clearly-written book, Murphy provides a brief outline of the development of post-modernism and the opportunities he feels it offers critical social analysis. His aim is "not only to introduce the main tenets of postmodernism, but to answer the critics of this philosophy". . . .
    —Canadian Philosophical Reviews
  • John Murphy undertakes an ambitious project in this book, as he aims 'not only to introduce the main tenets of postmodernism, but to answer the critics of this philosophy.' (p. 15). The project is an exciting one....
    —Ethics
Description: Although postmodernism has had clear impact on literary criticism, the social and political implications of this philosophy have not been systematically investigated. Murphy's study is the first to bring a broad interdisciplinary perspective to the subject and to present postmodernism as a coherent social theory. Responding with compelling arguments to critics of postmodernism, Murphy develops a model that offers a viable alternative to traditional approaches to conceptualizing and studying social life. In an introductory chapter, Murphy looks at the differences between modernism and postmodernism and discusses the "metanarratives" that characterize the former. He goes on to clarify key assumptions and concepts, especially the postmodern opposition to the traditional Western separation of subject and object. In subsequent chapters, he describes the research methodology used by postmodernists, their views of social ontology and the relationship between order and structure, and the creation of socially responsible institutions. The postmodernists' reconceptualization of key aspects of cultural reality, including time, space, reason, and social relations, is examined in detail. Murphy concludes by exploring the political ramifications of the postmodernist model and its potential as a vehicle for building a genuinely democractic society. This study will be of particular interest to philosophers, economists, and sociologists concerned with contemporary developments in European social philosophy. It is relevant to courses or study in social theory and philosophy, communication theory, cultural criticism, and related fields.
Table of Contents:
  • The Historical Development of Modernism
  • The Making of the Postmodern World
  • Postmodern Social Science
  • Order and Discourse
  • Socially Responsible Institutions
  • Dimensions of Postmodern Culture
  • The Politics of Postmoderism
  • Conclusion--Social Rehabilitation
  • Selected Bibliography
  • Index
LC Card Number: 88-35774
LCC Class: HM26
Dewey Class: 301
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