Define postmodernism and give examples of how postmodernist thinking has manifested itself throughout the history of psychology.
After the concepts premodernism and modernism came into light, a further new idea came up known as postmodernism during the 1960s. It is also known as social constructionism and deconstructionism.
The concept came as another challenge to the ideals of enlightenment. The followers of this theory believed that reality is the creation done by individuals and groups concerning personal, historical or cultural contexts.
Enlightenment or modernism believes that reality is the result of immutable truths, which are discovered by experience or scientific tools. The ideals of postmodernism coincide with those of romanticism, existentialism and also to James’s pragmatism, and even to the philosophies of the ancient Sophists and Skeptics.
Sophists believed in the existence of many truths, which vary with every individual. Roochnik, in fact came out with his views saying that Sophist is a postmodernist in his thinking style.
Similarly, Skeptics challenged the claims given on indisputable truths. Postmodernism, Sophists, Skeptics, romantics share a common belief suggesting the correlation between truth and cultural and personal perspectives. Analyzing all this, postmodernism is also known as radical relativism.