Yoshie wrote, "IMHO, the rise of modernity reinforced gender and made it more prominent than before, as it diminished and (in many countries) did away with some previously important identities such as feudal ranks. So, a postmodern approach to gender counts as different from a modern one."
You can certainly make a case for this...or not. The term doesn't mean the same thing to those who use it. And--taking issue with Doug's assertion--this the case among the people who choose to use the term positively as well. To me, it is academic faddism and nothing more. The premium in the culture and social science biz is to find new things, new terms, new approaches, new meanings (intended or not, real or not) in the social world. Like "performance art," postmodernism has become a lot of fuss and feathers signifying nothing but fuss and feathers...and creating useful work only in the sense that somebody has to clean up the chaotic intellectual mess left in the wake..... ML
