to modernity rely on Marx? One of the problems that has haunted Sociology in recent years is its theories feel like they have grown stale, much of todays Sociological theory is really a cover of another theory. Regurgitations of Marx, Max Weber, or Emile Durkheim. Theorists we label postmodern have formulated their ideas in this type of environment. Therefore, they have a modern base, they have rejected this modern base to give us something new, and often insightful, for most. Others consider it a waste of time. Post modernity relies heavily on theory, largely because most of the Sociological postmodern thinkers were schooled in this tradition it is going to affect the way they do theory, and what type of theory they do. Jean Baudrillard is an excellent example. He began his career as a Marxist. In particular, the Political Economy of the sign ,and Consumer Society are excellent extensions/critiques of Marxs ideas. But even in Baudrillards later works, the specter of Marx lingers. In Fatal Strategies Baudrillard talks about a revolution. This revolution, while distinct from Marx, still relies heavily on Marxian ideas. What is loosely referred to as "postmodern theory" has been around, in various forms for a while. There are theorists whose body of work would largely be classified as modernists, who actually have a postmodern bent to some of their ideas. People like Talcott Parsons, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, and Nietzsche. All have traces of postmodern ideas in their work. In fact many would consider people like Nietzsche, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, precursors to postmodern theory. So, we get to the big question, what makes a theory postmodern? This is a tough question and one that really shouldnt be answered in the limited space available in this paper.. But, I am going to attempt to do it anyway. The quickest answer is that postmodern theories/theorists are those that are labeled by modernists. Most of the people that w...
