The Condition of Postmodernity 13 - autonomous learning

PrefaceI cannot remember exactly when I first encountered the term postmodernism.I probably reacted to it in much the same way as I didto the various other 'isms' that have come and gone over the pastcouple of decades, hoping that it would disappear under the weightof its own incoherence or simply lose its allure as a fashionable set of'new ideas.'But it seemed as if the clamour of postmodernist arguments increasedrather than diminished with time. Once connected withpoststructuralism, postindustrialism, and a whole arsenal of other'new ideas,' postmodernism appeared more and more as a powerfulconfiguration of new sentiments and thoughts. It seemed set fair toplay a crucial role in defining the trajectory of social and politicaldevelopment simply by virtue of the way it defined standards ofsocial critique and political practice. In recent years it has determinedthe standards of debate, defined the manner of 'discourse,' and setparameters on cultural, political, and intellectual criticism.It therefore seemed appropriate to enquire more closely into thenature of postmodernism, not so much as a set of ideas but as ahistorical condition that required elucidation. I had, however, toundertake a survey of the dominant ideas and, since postmodernismturns out to be a mine-field of conflicting notions, that projectturned out to be by no means easy to undertake. The results of thatenquiry, set out in Part I, have been boiled down to the bareminimum, though I hope not unreasonably so. The rest of the workexamines the political-economic background (again, in a somewhatsimplified way) before looking much more closely at the experienceof space and time as one singularly important mediating link betweenthe dynamism of capitalism's historical-geographical developmentand complex processes of cultural production and ideological transformation.In this way it proves possible to make sense of some ofPrefacethe wholly new discourses that have ansen m the Western worldover the past few decades.There are signs, these days, that the cultural hegemony of postmodernsmis ẉeakening in th. e West. When even the developers tellan archItect hke Moshe Safdie that they are tired of it, then canphilosophical thinking be far behind? In a sense it does not matterwhether postmodernism is or is not on the way out, since much canbe learned from a historical enquiry into the roots of what has been aquite un : ttling .phase in economic, political, and cultural development.In wnmg thIS book I havẹ had a lot of help and critical encouragement.Vicent Navarro, Enca Schoenberger, Neil Smith, and DickWalker pr vIded a host of comments either on the manuscript orupon the Ideas I was developing. The Roland Park Collectiveprovided a grand forum for intellectual discussion and debate. It wasalso my good fortune to work with an extremely talented group ofgraduate students at the Johns Hopkins University, and I would liketo than Kevin Archer, Patrick Bond, Michael Johns, Phil Schmandt,and Enc Swyngedouw for the tremendous intellectual stimulationthey provided during my last years there. Jan Bark initiated me intothẹ joys of having some::m e do the word-processing competently andWIth good humour whIle undertaking much of the burden of constructing: he index. Angela Newman drew the diagrams, Tony Leeh lp d WIth the photogṛaphy, Sophie Hartley sought out the permIssl.ons, and Ahson DIckens and John Davey, of Basil Blackwell,prOVIded many helpful editorial comments and suggestions. AndHaydee was a wonderful source of inspiration.IX