Abstract
Terry Eaglet on began his 1996 critique of postmodernism by distinguishing culture and history. “The word postmodernism generally refers to a form of contemporary culture, whereas the term postmodernity alludes to a specific historical period” (vii). “Culture” in Eagleton’s usage seems to refer to the arts, broadly speaking. In this discussion, in contrast, “culture” designates the anthropological usage. Anthropological culture refers to what humans make: language, social institutions, ways of life, and so on. In this larger sense, culture forms humans’ primary ecological niche. The arts—dance, literature, music, painting, and theater to name a few—encompass those human activities that are relatively more expressive. Expressiveness contrasts with the instrumental, those actions aimed at practical ends. It also contrasts with discourse. Discourse aims at description and explanation, like the sciences both natural and social. An inescapable aporia for culture studies resides in a refractory character of culture: dividing it into parcels always leaves a good bit of overlap. Few human activities or artifacts are purely expressive, instrumental, or discursive. Expressive endeavors always contain discursive and instrumental elements, and mutatis mutandis for the other categories. The arts, then, merely do more expressing than the nonartistic aspects of culture. They are less instrumental or discursive.
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© 2010 Geoffrey R. Skoll
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Skoll, G.R. (2010). Modernism to Postmodernism and Beyond. In: Social Theory of Fear. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230112636_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230112636_8
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