A postmodernist study of the internet
This paper argues is that the activities associated with the Internet are organisational and societal activities taking place within a given historical context. As such explanations of these activities can profit from sociological theories such as postmodernism which can be seen as a reaction to som...
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| Format: | Article |
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Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
1998
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/4163/ |
| _version_ | 1848810427315650560 |
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| author | S.H. Heng, |
| author_facet | S.H. Heng, |
| author_sort | S.H. Heng, |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper argues is that the activities associated with the Internet are organisational and societal activities taking place within a given historical context. As such explanations of these activities can profit from sociological theories such as postmodernism which can be seen as a reaction to some signal failures of modernism and the modernity project. Postmodernist thinking reflects both a sense of imposing crisis and a feeling that the modernist system of ideas no longer suffices. The sacrosanct notion of the privileged role of the enlightenment, rationality and reason has lost credibility. It is very much a socio-cultural and philosophical system of thoughts which sprouts in a post-industrial society. The relevant elements of postmodernism used here are: (a) power is diffuse, (b) there is no grand theory to make sense of reality; (c) the world is fragmented and chaotic, (d) information technology has an ambivalent character. It is argued that postmodernism offers a fruitful way of understanding and explaining the range of possibilities and challenges that accompany the advent of the Internet. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T23:30:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:4163 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T23:30:20Z |
| publishDate | 1998 |
| publisher | Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:41632012-05-23T04:51:10Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/4163/ A postmodernist study of the internet S.H. Heng, This paper argues is that the activities associated with the Internet are organisational and societal activities taking place within a given historical context. As such explanations of these activities can profit from sociological theories such as postmodernism which can be seen as a reaction to some signal failures of modernism and the modernity project. Postmodernist thinking reflects both a sense of imposing crisis and a feeling that the modernist system of ideas no longer suffices. The sacrosanct notion of the privileged role of the enlightenment, rationality and reason has lost credibility. It is very much a socio-cultural and philosophical system of thoughts which sprouts in a post-industrial society. The relevant elements of postmodernism used here are: (a) power is diffuse, (b) there is no grand theory to make sense of reality; (c) the world is fragmented and chaotic, (d) information technology has an ambivalent character. It is argued that postmodernism offers a fruitful way of understanding and explaining the range of possibilities and challenges that accompany the advent of the Internet. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 1998-07 Article PeerReviewed S.H. Heng, (1998) A postmodernist study of the internet. AKADEMIKA, 53 . pp. 113-127. ISSN 0126-5008 http://pkukmweb.ukm.my/penerbit/jdem53-7.htm |
| spellingShingle | S.H. Heng, A postmodernist study of the internet |
| title | A postmodernist study of the internet |
| title_full | A postmodernist study of the internet |
| title_fullStr | A postmodernist study of the internet |
| title_full_unstemmed | A postmodernist study of the internet |
| title_short | A postmodernist study of the internet |
| title_sort | postmodernist study of the internet |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/4163/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/4163/ |