# Postmodernism Postmodernism is the broad-and-internally-diverse philosophical-analytical-and-cultural movement substantially-emerging across the mid-20th-century period (substantial post-1960s development; substantial late-20th-century mainstreaming) designating a substantially-broad analytical-political framework organized around several distinguishing analytical-political claims: (1) **skepticism toward grand narratives** — substantial skepticism toward substantively-comprehensive analytical-political-historical-philosophical narratives that substantially-claim universal-or-foundational truth-status (Jean-François Lyotard's *La Condition postmoderne*, 1979, substantially-articulates "incredulity toward metanarratives" as core analytical-philosophical claim); (2) **substantial-attention-to-language-and-discourse construction** — substantial attention to language-and-discourse infrastructure as substantially-constitutive of social-political-cultural reality rather than substantively-neutral medium for description; (3) **substantial-attention-to-power-knowledge relations** — substantial analytical attention to substantively-political dimensions of knowledge-production-and-circulation infrastructure (Michel Foucault's substantial analytical-tradition); (4) **substantial-skepticism-toward-stable-identity-and-essence** — substantial analytical-philosophical skepticism toward substantively-stable identity-and-essence analytical-categories ([[Jacques Derrida]]'s deconstruction analytical-tradition; Judith Butler's gender-performativity analytical-tradition); (5) **substantial attention to fragmentation and pluralism** — substantial cultural-aesthetic attention to fragmentation, pluralism, irony, and pastiche analytical-frameworks. The framework matters for the KB substantially across multiple analytical-political-registers: 1. **Principal contemporary right-coded political-philosophical-target.** Postmodernism is one of the principal contemporary right-coded political-philosophical-targets. [[Jordan Peterson]]'s substantial post-2016 political-cultural-mass-mobilization substantially-targets "postmodern neo-Marxism" as principal political-philosophical-target; the broader [[Cultural Marxism]] conspiratorial-framework substantially-targets postmodernism as principal political-philosophical-target. 2. **Substantial mischaracterization within contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-environment.** The contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-environment substantially-mischaracterizes postmodernism in multiple substantively-distinct registers: (a) substantial conflation of postmodernism with Marxism (substantially-incoherent analytical claim — postmodernism substantially-developed in substantial-skepticism-toward grand-Marxist-historical-philosophical narratives); (b) substantial conflation of postmodernism with contemporary identity-political and DEI-political activity (substantial mischaracterization — contemporary identity-political and DEI-political activity substantially-operates within liberal-egalitarian and social-justice political-philosophical-traditions substantially-distinct from postmodernist political-philosophical-tradition); (c) substantial conflation of postmodernism with substantially-contemporary academic-and-cultural-progressive analytical-activity broadly (substantial mischaracterization — substantial portion of contemporary academic-and-cultural-progressive analytical-activity operates substantially-outside postmodernist political-philosophical-tradition). 3. **Substantial actually-existing academic-and-philosophical-analytical-tradition.** Postmodernism is a substantial actually-existing academic-and-philosophical-analytical-tradition with substantial scholarly-analytical infrastructure across multiple substantively-distinct disciplinary contexts (literary-theory, philosophy, cultural-studies, history-of-science, anthropology, architecture, aesthetics, sociology, and adjacent disciplines). Tracking the actually-existing analytical-tradition is essential to substantively-analytically-engaging with the contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical mischaracterization. ## Theoretical Framework **Lyotardian skepticism-toward-metanarratives.** Jean-François Lyotard's *La Condition postmoderne: Rapport sur le savoir* (1979) substantially-articulates the framework's principal foundational analytical-claim — substantial skepticism toward "metanarratives" (substantively-comprehensive analytical-political-historical-philosophical narratives that substantially-claim universal-or-foundational truth-status). The framework substantially-targets Enlightenment-derived universalist-rationalist analytical-traditions; the framework substantially-targets Marxist-historical-materialist analytical-traditions; the framework substantially-targets liberal-political-philosophical-progress narratives. **Foucauldian power-knowledge analytical-tradition.** Michel Foucault's substantial analytical-tradition (*Madness and Civilization*, 1961; *[[The Order]] of Things*, 1966; *[[Discipline and Punish]]*, 1975; *The History of Sexuality* volumes, 1976+) substantially-articulates analytical-philosophical framework around substantially-political dimensions of knowledge-production-and-circulation infrastructure. The framework substantially-distinguishes itself from Marxist-economic-determinist analytical-frameworks; the framework substantially-emphasizes substantially-decentralized-and-pervasive power-relations analytical-framework rather than substantially-centralized-and-state-located power-relations analytical-framework. **Derridean deconstruction analytical-tradition.** Jacques Derrida's substantial analytical-tradition (*Of Grammatology*, 1967; *Writing and Difference*, 1967; *Speech and Phenomena*, 1967) substantially-articulates analytical-philosophical framework around language-and-text deconstruction analytical-methodology. The framework substantially-articulates substantial analytical-philosophical skepticism toward substantively-stable meaning-and-reference analytical-categories. **Butlerian gender-performativity analytical-tradition.** Judith Butler's substantial analytical-tradition (*Gender Trouble*, 1990; *Bodies That Matter*, 1993; subsequent extensive analytical-tradition development) substantially-articulates analytical-philosophical framework around gender-and-identity as substantially-performative-and-constituted-through-repeated-action analytical-framework rather than substantially-essential-or-natural-categorical analytical-framework. The framework substantially-influential across contemporary gender-studies and queer-theory academic-analytical-traditions. **Substantially-broad related-analytical-traditions.** Substantial adjacent related-analytical-traditions: Jean Baudrillard's hyperreality and simulation analytical-tradition; Fredric Jameson's substantial Marxist-postmodernist analytical-tradition; [[Richard Rorty]]'s neo-pragmatist political-philosophical-tradition; Donna Haraway's substantial cyborg-and-situated-knowledge analytical-tradition; Bruno Latour's substantial science-studies-and-actor-network analytical-tradition. ## Distinct from Adjacent Frameworks **Distinct from [[Marxism]].** Postmodernism substantially-developed in substantial-skepticism-toward grand-Marxist-historical-philosophical narratives. The framework substantially-rejects Marxist historical-materialist analytical-tradition's substantially-comprehensive analytical claims. The contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical conflation of "postmodernism" and "Marxism" (notably the "postmodern neo-Marxism" framework popularized by Jordan Peterson) is substantially-incoherent analytical claim. **Distinct from [[Critical Theory]].** Postmodernism and Critical Theory substantially-overlap but substantially-distinct. Critical Theory (substantially-the Frankfurt-School analytical-tradition) substantially-operates within broader Marxist analytical-tradition with substantial humanist-and-emancipatory-political-philosophical-commitments. Postmodernism substantially-skeptical toward Marxist analytical-tradition and substantially-skeptical toward humanist-and-emancipatory-political-philosophical-commitments. The two analytical-traditions substantially-engage substantively, but the analytical-distinction is substantively-important. **Distinct from contemporary identity-political and DEI-political activity.** Contemporary identity-political and DEI-political activity substantially-operates within liberal-egalitarian and social-justice political-philosophical-traditions. The two analytical-traditions substantially-engage substantively, but the analytical-distinction is substantively-important. The contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical conflation of "postmodernism" and contemporary identity-political and DEI-political activity is substantial-mischaracterization. ## Contemporary American Right-Coded Targeting **Jordan Peterson's "postmodern neo-Marxism" framing.** Jordan Peterson's substantial post-2016 political-cultural-mass-mobilization substantially-targets "postmodern neo-Marxism" as principal political-philosophical-target. The framing substantially-conflates postmodernism with Marxism (substantially-incoherent analytical claim); the framing has substantial mass-political-cultural-mobilization impact across contemporary right-coded political-cultural-discourse infrastructure. **[[Cultural Marxism]] conspiratorial-framework deployment.** The contemporary Cultural-Marxism conspiratorial-framework substantially-targets postmodernism as principal political-philosophical-target. The framework substantially-conflates the actually-existing postmodernist analytical-tradition with substantially-broader contemporary academic-and-cultural-progressive analytical-activity. **Anti-CRT / "patriotic education" political-rhetorical-environment.** The contemporary anti-CRT and "patriotic education" political-rhetorical-environment substantially-deploys "postmodernism" pejoratively against contemporary academic-and-cultural-progressive analytical-activity. The deployment substantially-conflates the actually-existing postmodernist analytical-tradition with substantially-broader contemporary academic-and-cultural-progressive analytical-activity. ## Why It Matters for the KB **Principal contemporary right-coded political-philosophical-target documentary anchor.** Postmodernism is one of the principal contemporary right-coded political-philosophical-targets. Tracking the actually-existing analytical-tradition is essential to substantively-analytically-engaging with the contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-environment. **Substantial-mischaracterization analytical resource.** Tracking the actually-existing postmodernist analytical-tradition provides substantial-mischaracterization analytical resource for engaging with contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-environment's substantial-mischaracterization of postmodernism. **[[Cultural Marxism]] conspiratorial-framework analytical-context.** Tracking the actually-existing postmodernist analytical-tradition is essential to substantively-analytically-engaging with the Cultural-Marxism conspiratorial-framework's substantial-mischaracterization of postmodernism. **Academic-and-philosophical-analytical-tradition documentary resource.** Postmodernism is a substantial actually-existing academic-and-philosophical-analytical-tradition. Tracking the tradition is useful for engaging with broader contemporary academic-and-philosophical analytical-literature. ## See Also - [[Critical Theory]] — adjacent analytical-philosophical-tradition - [[Frankfurt School]] — adjacent analytical-philosophical-tradition - [[Marxism]] — adjacent analytical-philosophical-tradition (substantially-distinct from postmodernism despite contemporary right-coded conflation) - [[Cultural Marxism]] — the contemporary conspiratorial-framework substantially-targeting postmodernism - [[Political Correctness]] — adjacent contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-vocabulary