Robert Samuels - This book argues that we have moved into a new cultural period, automodernity, which represents a social, psychological, and technological reaction to postmodernity

Robert Samuels, New Media, Cultural Studies, and Critical Theory after Postmodernism: Automodernity from Zizek to Laclau. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

excerpt


This book argues that we have moved into a new cultural period, automodernity, which represents a social, psychological, and technological reaction to postmodernity. In fact, by showing how individual autonomy is now being generated through technological and cultural automation, Samuels posits that we must rethink modernity and postmodernity. Part of this rethinking entails stressing how the progressive political aspects of postmodernism need to be separated from the aesthetic consumption of differences in automoderntiy. Choosing culturally relevant studies of The Matrix, Grand Theft Auto, Eminem and Jurassic Park, he interprets these medias through the lens of eminent theorists like Slavoj Zizek, Frederic Jameson, and Henry Jenkins. Ultimately, he argues that what defines postmodernity is the stress on social construction, secular humanism, and progressive social movements that challenge the universality and neutrality of modern reason.

Earnest, relentless, and frequently compelling, Samuels offers a sobering analysis of some of the ways that cultural studies, new media, and the university itself have failed our hopes for democracy. You won't agree with everything in this book, but you'll pop onto his blog to argue with him about it.”--Marc Bousquet