This book argues that we have moved into a new cultural period, automodernity, which represents a social, psychological, and technological reaction to postmodernity. In fact, by showing how individual autonomy is now being generated through technological and cultural automation, Samuels posits that we must rethink modernity and postmodernity. Part of this rethinking entails stressing how the progressive political aspects of postmodernism need to be separated from the aesthetic consumption of differences in automoderntiy. Choosing culturally relevant studies of The Matrix, Grand Theft Auto, Eminem and Jurassic Park, he interprets these medias through the lens of eminent theorists like Slavoj Zizek, Frederic Jameson, and Henry Jenkins. Ultimately, he argues that what defines postmodernity is the stress on social construction, secular humanism, and progressive social movements that challenge the universality and neutrality of modern reason.
Author(s): Robert Samuels
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 272
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 10
Part I: A Radical Critique of Academic Theory......Page 14
1. Automodernity: Autonomy and Automation after Postmodernity......Page 16
2. Henry Jenkins: Cultural Studies, New Media, and the Ends of the Modern University......Page 40
3. After Frederic Jameson: A Practical Critique of Pure Theory and Postmodernity......Page 64
4. The Political without Politics: Slavoj Zizek and the Psychoanalysis of Automodernity......Page 82
Part II: The Psychopathology of Automodernity......Page 98
5. On the Psychopathology of the New Right: From Jurassic Park to the Gendered Culture Wars......Page 100
6. The Automodern University: The Universal Individual and the Backlash against Social Discourse......Page 118
7. Grand Theft Automodernity: Globalizing Individualism and Cultural Nihilism from Eminem to The Matrix......Page 136
Part III: Postmodern Education, Social Movements, and Politics......Page 158
8. Postmodern Education and Social Ethics after Automodernity......Page 160
9. Taking Back the Automodern University: Postmodern Progressive Social Movements and the Academic Class System......Page 180
10. Beyond the Zizek-Laclau Debate: Coalition Politics and Academic Theory after Obama......Page 200
Notes......Page 220
Works Cited......Page 254
B......Page 262
E......Page 263
I......Page 264
M......Page 265
P......Page 266
S......Page 267
W......Page 268
Z......Page 269
