Postmodernism and Critical Cultural Theory

Although considered by many mainstream (modernist) observers as abstract and difficult to understand, postmodernism draws attention to the socially constructed and tenuous nature of society&s;s rules, values, and norms. Postmodernism is much larger than a criminological theory. Postmodernism rejects the idea of hierarchies of knowledge and objects to "metanarratives," or unifying discourses of power that profess to provide answers to the fundamental questions of life. It argues that knowledge is, at best, the result of an interpretative process, but more likely is the result of a political process, one enmeshed with the power of discourse. Others have incorporated postmodernism into a new form of critical "cultural criminology" that explores the use and subversion of mass media images by those subject to the power of others&s; discursive practices.