The social sciences are still predominantly modernist disciplines and, as such, products of the Enlightenment. Recent challenges to Enlightenment thinking thus carry with them the potential or threat to transform the social sciences radically. Postmodernism and the Social Sciences examines the nature and potential of this postmodernist challenge in each of the major social sciences. Starting with the practices of particular disciplines and proceeding to matters of shared concern, the essays provide an accessible discussion of the contemporary impact of postmodernism on social scientific thought.

The major themes of postmodernist writing are demystified in this introductory text. Robert Hollinger reviews key postmodern discussions on critical topics such as values, identity, and the self and society. He compares postmodern thinking with that of the enlightenment project, modernism, modernity, Marxism and Critical Theory. This, together with his treatment of Foucault, Lyotard, Baudrillard, Derrida, Deleuze, Guattari and other leading postmodern theorists, provides an excellent introduction to modern social theory.

V.1 Foundational essays -- V.2 Critical Texts -- V.3 Disciplinary texts: Humanities and social sciences -- V.4 Legal studies, psychoanalytic studies, visual arts and architecture.

"Postmodernism" has become the buzzword of contemporary society. Yet it remains baffling in its variety of definitions, contexts and associations. Beginning Postmodernism aims to offer clear, accessible and step-by-step introductions to postmodernism across a wide range of subjects. It encourages readers to explore how the debates about postmodernism have emerged from basic philosophical and cultural ideas. With its emphasis firmly on "postmodernism in practice," the book contains exercises and questions designed to help readers understand and reflect upon a variety of positions in the following areas of contemporary culture: philosophy and cultural theory; architecture and concepts of space; visual art; sculpture and the design arts; popular culture and music; film, video and television culture; and the social sciences.

Examines the conflict between modern and postmodern theories in sociology and attempts to bridge the divide between them.

Postmodernist ideas are widely used in family therapy. However, it is argued that these ideas have their limits in meeting the richness and complexity of human experience and therapy practice. Family Therapy Beyond Postmodernism examines postmodernism and its expressions in family therapy, raising questions about: * reality and realness * the subjective process of truth * the experience of self. Alongside identifying the difficulties in any sole reliance on narrative and constructionist ideas, this book advocates the value of selected psychoanalytic ideas for family therapy practice, in particular: * attachment and the unconscious * transference, projective identification and understandings of time * psychoanalytic ideas about thinking and containment in the therapeutic relationship. Family Therapy Beyond Postmodernism offers a sustained critical discussion of the possibilities and limits of contemporary family therapy knowledge, and develops a place for psychoanalytic ideas in systemic thinking and practice. It will be of great interest to family therapists, psychotherapists and other mental health professionals.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book shows the impact of postmodernism upon the theory and practice of education and how it challenges the existing concepts, structures and hierarchies.

Containing more than fifty essays by major literary scholars, International Postmodernism divides into four main sections. The volume starts off with a section of eight introductory studies dealing with the subject from different points of view followed by a section that deals with postmodernism in other arts than literature, while a third section discusses renovations of narrative genres and other strategies and devices in postmodernist writing. The final and fourth section deals with the reception and processing of postmodernism in different parts of the world. Three important aspects add to the special character of International Postmodernism: The consistent distinction between postmodernity and postmodernism; equal attention to the making and diffusion of postmodernism and the workings of literature in general; and the focus on the text and the reader (i.e., the reader's knowledge, experience, interests, and competence) as crucial factors in text interpretation. This comprehensive study does not expressly focus on American postmodernism, although American interpretations of postmodernism are a major point of reference. The recognition that varying literary and cultural conditions in this world are bound to produce endless varieties of postmodernism made the editors, Hans Bertens and Douwe Fokkema, opt for the title International Postmodernism.

Postmodernism is an essential approach to History. This is the first dedicated primer on postmodernism for the historian. It offers a step-by-step guide to postmodern theory, includes a guide to how historians have applied the theory, and provides a review of why its critics are wrong. In simple and clear language, it takes the reader through the chain of theory that developed in the 20th century to become now, in the early 21st century, the leading stimulant of new forms of research in History. With separate chapters on The Sign, The Discourse, Post/Structuralism, The Text, The Self, and Morality, this book will encourage a new critical awareness of Theory when reading books of History, and when writing essays and dissertations. Armed with the principal ideas of Saussure, Barthes, Foucault, and Derrida, the historians can formulate how to combine empirical History with the excitement of fresh perspectives and new skills, merged in the new moral impetus of the postmodern condition. Designed for the beginner this is the essential postmodern starting point.