Post-modernism is the new black.

Or, so says The Economist.

 

In a detailed review of Selfridges, a London retailer, this article discussed Postmodern philosophy in detail, and accuses Postmodernists of being manipulated by capitalists into becoming a new breed of consumers to feed the beast.

 

It said, in sum: The long trail from Adorno and Horkheimer to Foucault was paved with the Pomo attempt to reconcile capitalism, in all of its mass marketing glory, with the overdose of individualism brought on by postmodernism.

 

Adorno and Horkheimer, the authors of the original Postmodern manifest, Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), were liberal thinkers, and believed that the evolution of the postmodern mind and society would throw off capitalism. 

 

In truth, the Pomo society is massively individualistic. As the article repeatedly explains, Pomos are the "artists of their own lives," meaning they consume not as contributors to a capitalistic society or to support the economic cycle, but to make their lives uniquely their own. Capitalists take advantage of this. 

 

Foucault recognized this connection. He recommended the readings of F.A. Hayek to explain why people must become consumers in a vain attempt to prevent themselves from being governed.  
 

The article concludes that capitalists have embraced postmodernism to a greater degree than Pomos have embraced capitalism. In their quest for unique, anarchistic lives governed by the individual self, Pomos too have become consumers - MP3 players and iTunes are redefining the music market, YouTube recreating television and visual media consumption, and as the article points out, GoogleNews and YahooNews are redefining news, advertising and marketing consumption. 

 

They have not stopped consuming, only begun consuming in new ways, meaning that capitalists are using postmodern philosophy to their advantage.

 

But, Adorno and Horkheimer would be thrilled with TIME Magazines Person of the Year issue however. "You" were voted person of the year for all of your creativity and accomplishments in 2006. Open-source became the theme of year. There was, again, YouTube, Wikipedia, Linux and the boom of Firefox. All of these are open-source - user created and maintained.

 

Seems Eric Raymond, author of Netscape's Open Source Initiative, has tapped into the Adorno/ Horkeimer liberalism and created a new wave of development. Open Source practices are creeping into agriculture, governance, technology development, education, the health industry and, of course, advertising and shopping. Don't believe me? Check out the Wikipedia notes and references on the matter.

 

As fast as capitalists can come up with new ideas on how to use Pomo fragmentation theories to generate sales, Pomo's are recreating the market. New ideas and information are being traded freely by a great many people these days. Innovation for innovations sake. Profits are taking a back seat to progress. Maybe the Pomo's aren't being as badly manipulated as the Economist implied.