The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism: The Postmodernism Essay

"Intervening in the theoretical and political debates over postmodernism in the 1980s, Fredric Jameson's 1991 essay takes a different approach, defining postmodernism as the cultural system of a global, financialized stage of capitalist society. Jameson argues that postmodernism is characterized by a "crisis of historicity," a "waning of affect," and a prevalence of pastiche. He traces these characteristics of postmodernism across a variety of fields and media, including film, television, literature, economics, architecture, and philosophy. In one of his most prominent examples, Jameson draws out the differences between modernism and postmodernism by comparing Van Gogh's "Peasant Shoes" with Andy Warhol's "Diamond Dust Shoes," making a crucial claim that cultural objects are relatively incapable of helping us locate and orient us in the world. For Jameson, postmodernism, as a form of mass-culture driven by capitalism, pervades every aspect of our daily lives as we wade through a world that is increasingly more resistant to representation"-- Provided by publisher.