1. Introduction. At the present time the social science disciplines offer contrasting perspectives on how researchers should approach phenomena. On the one hand there are postmodern social theorists such as Lyotard, Derrida, and Baudrillard, but in contrast to this there is the school of modernist sociological theorists, for example, Marx and Gramsci. Postmodernist theorists favour a perspective which rejects notions that have their foundations in one specific area (such as production) represented through grand narratives (Lyotard 1984:passim), whilst modernists would look firstly to material and realist explanations of social phenomena. The aim of this paper is to explore, compare, and contrast the approaches of both schools of thought and to discover strengths and weaknesses in postmodern theory. The weaknesses, I believe, can be remedied by adopting a materialist and realist perspective. Thus the paper will lead to the creation of a materialist supplement to postmodernism. The phenomenon used to illustrate the strengths and failings of postmodernism will be that of nostalgia. The dissertation will focus on the work of Baudrillard from the postmodern school, whilst the modernists I intend to use will include Marx and Gramsci. Although Marx and postmodernist theorists have some similarities it is the differences between the two that will be emphasised for the purposes of this paper. In addition it is recognised that some theorists, such as Habermas, occupy a middle-ground. Whilst these theorists are apt for the study of nostalgia and their work is appropriate to this subject the focus of the paper will be upon the chosen theorists in order to provide as great a contrast as possible between the approaches of postmodernism and modernism. In order that the paper remains within the word limit some associated and relevant topics and theorists will be omitted. References will be made in footnotes so the reader can investigate the relevant literature. 1.1 The protagonists and the forum of debate. Section two lays out some of the key features of postmodern theorising together with selected examples which will illuminate the salient elements. Of all the readings that I have undertaken to date I find the work of Jean Baudrillard the most apt for the investigation of nostalgia. Section 3 will therefore involve an analysis of Baudrillard's work on the Simulacrum, sign exchange value, and discourse. For Baudrillard each object1 in the social world exists only as a signifier, a sign, a symbol. The object's only value is its symbolic exchange value. In 'Simulations' Baudrillard (1983:12) states that, "When the real is no longer what it used to be, nostalgia assumes its full meaning". Baudrillard is, I believe, describing a simulation in this phrase, part of an overlapping series of simulations known as the simulacrum which combine and create a hyper-reality. The Simulacrum is, therefore, the only truth. It is that which hides the fact that there is no longer any reality, everything is discourse, and everything is therefore a simulation. Hyper-reality refers to the precession of simulacra, the interlocking of discourses surrounding an object thereby creating that object. The argument is that reality does not exist per se and what we experience in our day to day lives is actually a barrage of simulations, an array of simulacra which we take to be real because they are all that there is to experience. Thus, we have a reality, but one which is bogus2 and ，英语论文网站，英语毕业论文 |
