Ecology and the End of Postmodernism (Postmodern Encounters) Book

Postmodernism laid modernity to rest - or so we thought. Few could continue to believe in the tale of scientific progress after the ecological wreckage of the twentieth century. The 'grand narrative' fell by the wayside, to be replaced by a hubbub of 'small stories', each vying for legitimacy and underming the authority of elected governments as they did so. But now these heralds of ecological disaster are reconfirming the scientific values that postmodernists such as Lyotard and Baudrillard claimed they would destroy. From foot-and-mouth and BSE to flooding and global warming, the events of everyday life are upholding new hypotheses, and reinventing the legitimacy of the scientific quest. Modernity is back. And the new grand narrative uniting its elements is underpinned by a worry for the planet's pathology: the Ecological Threat. Drawing on the ideas of Ulrich Beck and other leading theorists of society and ecology, George Myerson shows how the minutiae of day-to-day living are part of a much bigger, and more threatening, picture.Read More