UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES College of Arts and Sciences Department of Social Sciences

POSTMODERNISM

Baladad, Paolo Antonio Jison, John Raymond Lindayen, Kathreen Kuizon, John Ronald Ramos, Gabriel Justine Santos, Jewelle Ann Lou Yambao, Earl Justin

Prof. Fatima Alvarez Castillo Political Science 100

POSTMODERNISM

POLITICAL SCIENCE 100

Postmodernism is a late 20th-century movement characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; though postmodernism cannot be clearly defined, it can be described as a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices employing concepts such as difference, repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and hyperreality to destabilize other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and the univocity of meaning. Postmodernism is a philosophical movement away from modernism, but defining postmodernism, really is defying one of its basic assumptions that there is no absolute truth. That is why it cannot be clearly defined, or it can be defined, but a certain definition is only a part of its whole.

BRIEF HISTORY As it has been said earlier, the postmodernism, as a movement, seeks to move away from traditionalism. In this light, it is noteworthy to summarize the stages for which the postmodernism has undertaken long before its emergence as a philosophical movement. To name, these are the premodernity, modernity, and eventually, postmodernity. The premodernity was a period when the belief for the pope(s) and to the church as the only source of knowledge became prominent (Reformation). In the period of modernity, science dethroned the church as the source of knowledge and became the provider of worlds absolute truths. (Renaissance). And now came postmodernity which asserts that there is a realm aside from science; one is supposed to think outside the box in order to obtain truth. While the idea of postmodernity had been around since the 1940s, postmodern philosophy originated primarily in France during the mid-20th century. Though postmodern way of thinking have started inside the humans mind and there is no way of knowing when it started, the word postmodernism was first entered the philosophical lexicon in 1979, with the publication of The Postmodern Condition by Jean-Franois Lyotard. Postmodern way of thinking was further developed by philosophers like Michel Foucault, and was backed up by Friedrich Nietzsches works which came before the existence of Postmodernist thinkers.
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PROPONENT Michel Foucault is a Nietzschean social theorist and philosopher who wrote specific writings such as Discipline and Punish wherein he included the principle of Panopticism, in which he said that we are all subject to a single authority, the government. His defiance to the norms, and being critical of the state, made him one of the postmodernist thinkers, though he rejected the claim and said that he was a Nietzschean. BASIC ASSUMPTIONS Postmodernism assumes that there is no absolute truth, on another end, it says that everything is correct, but not absolutely correct, while on the other end, it says that everything is wrong. There are many loci of power and that knowledge and power should not come from the state or from science alone; every man has power Foucault asserted that each individual interpretation of the world is a clear declaration of ones power. According to Richard Rorty, postmodernism encourages people to no longer seek for the truth, but rather should concentrate on discussing the various interpretations of reality. Postmodernism gave way to critical thinking, agnosticism, atheism; inclining to the belief that there is no absolute truth. It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place. It emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations; in particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus colonial. Due to this, postmodernism assumes that the different interpretations by different people lead to inevitable conflict.

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SPECTRUM OF POSTMODERNITY
Postmodernism has a spectrum with several ranges. Its spectrum has two extremes. The left extreme considers that everything is true. Postmodernist recognizes that power is centralized in every individual which makes everyone powerful. Thus, each individuals perspective is true. On the other hand, the right extreme believes that there is no absolute truth. Recognizing that every individual is powerful, no one monopolizes what the truth is. No one can suggest what the absolute truth is. For postmodernists, no single individual can provide the entire truth. Every individual or every actor involve in an issue holds only a partial truth. To arrive at the entire truth, all the partial truth provided by every individual should be combined. Thus, partial truths are essential in establishing the truth claim. Meanwhile, at the center of the spectrum is the anti-traditional claim of postmodernism. What is traditional is being defied. The postmodernists at this range go against domination, oppression, and inequality. They disagree that there is one center of power that dominates other. Postmodernism theory recognizes that there are many loci of power. Thus, it is proposed that the center be decentered and the marginalized be centered. That is to say, the marginalized should be put into equal emphasis with what is said to be the dominant structure.

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POWER
FOUCAULT'S CONCEPTUALIZATION OF POWER Michel Foucault, a leading Postmodernist thinker of his time, analyzed power in a way far different from that of the Marxists. As far as the Marxists are concerned, power, which is concentrated in a particular group (e.g. the State), is repressive and oppressive in nature. But Foucault moved away from this traditional and negative connotation of power which has always been perceived as an agent of coercion. Furthermore, it has always been seen as a judicial mechanism which limits, obstructs, refuses, prohibits, and censors (Sarup, 1993, p.73). The Foucauldian theory of power asserts that power can have useful effects and is not only possessed by a group of people but rather, it can be located everywhere. It constitutes all social relations and is present in all social encounters and private domains. It has the character of a network; its threads extend everywhere (Sarup, 1993, p.74). KNOWLEDGE AND POWER In understanding how power is being exercised over individuals, it is worth notable to introduce the notion of knowledge. Power is constituted in knowledge, for knowledge itself is a power over others (Sarup, 1993). That is to say, all fields of knowledge are constituted within power relations and all power relations constitute a field of knowledge. It can be implied then that power and knowledge are intertwined and these two are inseparable. As Sarup (1993) puts it, it is not possible for power to be exercised without knowledge; it is impossible for knowledge not to engender power (p. 74). Indeed, all power produces reality. Thus, power can also create and cause to emerge new objects of knowledge. In this juncture, Foucault laid down two fields of knowledge (can be also referred as power nexus) to which power can be exercised. Let it be said that in both fields of knowledge, the body is the site for the production and transmission of knowledge (McNay, 1994). To name, these are the disciplinary power and biopower. DISCIPLINARY POWER In his masterpiece Discipline and Punish (1977), Foucault has introduced an emergence of a new mode of exercising power, and this is in the form of surveillance, regulation and discipline. The disciplinary power intends to manipulate, control and produce bodies that can be easily used, transformed and improved (McNay, 1994). Sarup (1993) defines it as a system of surveillance which is interiorized to the point that each person is his/her own overseer (p. 67). To subject people into punishment is costly than to place people under
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constant surveillance. That is how disciplinary power was contextualized. People must feel that they are in a constant surveillance although they are not. In this way, power is being exercised continuously at a minimal cost. This mode of power is usually being referred to as panopticism which was taken from Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, an architectural design for prison cells which also resembles the operations of disciplinary power when exercised. In this circular prison cell, prisoners are conscientiously watching their behavior as they feel that they are being contentiously guarded by the prison guards when in fact there are none present in the watch tower. When disciplinary power was exercised, people tend to behave automatically and to act in certain ways. Through repetition and conditioning, the body is becoming more and more useful and docile. It responds automatically, without even knowing that the power was already exercised over us. BIOPOWER Another mode of exercising power was mentioned by Foucault in his another masterpiece, 'The History of Sexuality (1979). This is the biopower, characterized by the use of statistical and scientific findings in establishing knowledge claims. The exercise of power over individuals can be a manifestation of biopower. For instance, the biopower is evident in a situation where a doctor tells what his or her patient's illness is. Also, biopower can be exercised when people are asked to give information prejudicial to them through surveys, interviews and the like (e.g. interrogation of criminals, application for welfare benefits, etc.). Sarup (1993) also asserted the same predicament during the Middle Ages when the Catholic devotees are asked about their sexual activities in detail should they come to a priest for confession. The articulation of power is the body itself, and the processes of training human bodies have become rampant. This commenced when the use of technology became widespread. Until today, exercising biopower has gone a long way in schools, prisons, factories, hospitals and to some other institutions.

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CONSCIOUSNESS, VALUES AND IDEOLOGY

BORDIEU'S SUBJECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS Pierre Bordieu, also a Postmodernist thinker with a Neo-Marxist ideological orientation, introduced the idea of subjective consciousness. According to him, the subjective consciousness (our perception of how things are) acts on a materialist basis. In other words, the non-material (consciousness for this case) is capable of making materialist changes (e.g. destruction of substructure) through the use of a counter-ideology. To illustrate, let the case of the 18th-century Philippines be taken into consideration. The 18th-century Philippines pictured the inevitable downfall of the Spanish occupation in the Philippine archipelago. Being such, the subjective consciousness of the Filipinos during that time is that Spain will grant the freedom of the Philippines in the near future. That is how most of the Filipinos during that time perceive the situation. But as the Philippine revolution ignited on 1896, this perception changed. Fighting for the country's independence was seen as the most viable way to free the Philippines from foreign aggression, not through mere waiting. Through this, the subjective consciousness of the Filipinos was transformed to objective consciousness which resulted to the termination of Spanish colonization in the Philippines. FOUCAULT'S DISCURSIVE PRACTICE Foucault's concept of discourse and discursive practice relates how someone/something influences others on how other people view things and certain situations. Here he described the discourse as the debate of the moment, an issue that is a subject of contentious discussions and conversations in society (McNay, 1994). Foucault further added that there is someone who defines the terms of the discourse which may lead to the shifting of attention from the real discourse going to the fake one. This is worth an example. Poverty, for instance, has been regarded as a chronic problem which our country faces until now. As it has been the case, the government is putting a strong emphasis on the overpopulation as the root of this problem. But it should be stated that this is not the real discourse. Indeed, overpopulation is a probable reason why poverty still persists in our country, but it is not the root itself. The maldistribution of resources is the root, yet the State has not asserted something regarding this. It implies then that the State here defines the terms of the discourse which, consequently, shifted the real issue from the bogus one.

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SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CHANGE

Postmodernism gives way to social and political change through subversion of established order. This emphasizes that there is more than one locus of power, and power is not concentrated on one sector alone (example: science, state, government, etc). subversion of established order is an attempt to transform the established social order, its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy; examples of such structures include the State. Recent writers, in the post-modern and post-structuralist traditions (including, particularly, feminist writers) have prescribed a very broad form of subversion. It is not, directly, the governing realm which should be subverted in their view, but the predominant cultural forces, such as patriarchy, individualism, and scientism. This broadening of the target of subversion owes much to the ideas of Antonio Gramsci, who stressed that communist revolution required the erosion of the particular form of cultural hegemony in any society.

JUSTICE
Postmodernity can be interpreted as a mood which seeks to capture scepticism with established knowledge systems. Thus, it eliminates traditional notions about what is right or wrong, just or unjust. Values like homogeneity and universalism are rejected. Postmodern ethics defines individual interpretation of justice, making views about justice personal (Mullard & Spicker, 1998). Every person has a right to be different. Individuals are regarded as unique with one another possessing different individual life goals and projects. Difference is equated with equality. Thus, there is a need for everyone to treat each other equally but differently which points out to procedural justice. The rule of the law must be ensured in order to pave way with the justice conforming to both difference and equality (Mullard & Spicker, 1998). Justice is questionable because it is used as an instrument for political or economic power. Foucault questioned the origin of justice and who it benefits. The very idea of justice was invented to work in different societies as an instrument of a certain political and/or economic power or as a weapon against that power. Popular justice, which is defined as a relatively spontaneous expression of the masses and occurs outside the justice system set by those who benefit on it is favoured (Yezzi, 2001).

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GOVERNANCE
Plurality in viewpoints is to be considered in social policy formulation. Due to the individual life projects that individuals aim at, different considerations and interpretations from individuals are present (Mullard & Spicker, 1998). Thus, institutionalized pluralism is adhered by postmodernism. Institutionalized pluralism suggests that advocacy groups, non-governmental organizations and other actors are also present in determining the policymaking processes (Grossmann, n.d.). Power and authority is channelled by such actors. Thus, power is not only present in the governmental structures. Decentralization of power in governance characterizes postmodernist approach in governance. Thus, postmodernism suggests decentering the center and centering the marginalized.

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CASE STUDY
1. PUNCHING OF THE SHERIFF BY MAYOR DUTERTE
Recently, the mayor of Davao City, Sara Duterte, became the subject of contentious issue as she had beaten up a sheriff who was trying to enforce a demolition order at a community in the city. Some have laid down their opinions and views regarding this. In the viewpoint of Mayor Duterte, in an interview on GMA News TV Live's On Call, Duterte-Carpio said she did not regret her actions. For the sheriff Andres, he was just following orders of Judge Emmanuel Carpio the presiding judge of RTC Branch 16 who issued the writ of demolition. He also decided not to file charges against Mayor Duterte. Commission on Human Rights Director Siapco Jr., said You know, I have viewed the incident through the television. Through my conception, there seems to be traces of human rights violations, The spectrum of Postmodernism illustrates that, on one end, every viewpoint is an absolute truth, and the other end, that there is no absolute truth. With all the different point of views above, not one is better than the other in terms of the centralization of power, the monopoly of knowledge, correctness of consciousness, values and ideologies, rightful justice and proper governance. Each individual point of view has its own strength and weaknesses depending on what perspective it is viewed.

2. DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT BY SMALL-SCALE MINING

On July 14, 2011 there was this article released in a newspaper in which the large-scale miners (LSMs) blamed the small-scale miners (SSMs) for continuous environmental degradation. According to the article, the former is pointing its fingers to unregulated smallscale mining and slash-and-burn farming methods (Olchondra & Quismundo, 2011) for the destruction of our countrys natural resources.

Apparently, large scale miners can afford to hire expert researchers (intellectual elite) to support them while small scale miners cannot. Though such actions may improve the credibility of LSMs, it does not necessarily invalidate what SSMs argue. Normally, we would discount the arguments of SSMs given their lack of collective bargaining power as they tend to be separate

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non-united groups but a postmodern analysis would demand that we at least consider their side to be as argumentatively legitimate as that of LSMs. This use of power by the LSMs is what Foucault called biopower. They have relied on scientific findings or opinion of hard science professionals to manipulate the truth for their own good. Also, the act of releasing such claims to the press community, through the news article, is a discursive practice. The LSMs, in the postmodern analysis, are trying to define the issue. They are shifting the attention of the people from their malpractices to the conduct of SSMs through the media, which is an ideological apparatus.

There is no denying that both large scale and small scale mining are generally very destructive to the environment as mining is one of the chief causes of deforestation. Trees, plants and all vegetation are cleared and burned to make the ground completely bare for mining operations. Large scale mining involves using huge bulldozers and excavators to extract the metals and minerals from the soil. Further, to amalgamate the extractions, they use chemicals such as cyanide, mercury, or methyl-mercury. Small scale mining is equally devastating to the environment. Groups of 5-6 men migrate from one mining site to another in pursuit of precious metals, particularly gold. There are two types of small scale mining: land dredging and river dredging. Postmodern analysis would suggest that the issue could be better solved through direct negotiations between LSMs and SSMs rather than for the government to act as a neutral mediator simply because the government cannot be an effective mediator because it would have its own interests and agendas in the matter.

3. CONFLICTING CLAIMS OF THE SPRATLY ISLAND BY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

Spratly Islands has been one of the most popular bodies of land in Southeast Asia, and even in the global scene these past months. These islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) comprise of more or less 300,000 islands, and it is said that the islands have numerous oil and natural gas reserves. This richness of the Spratlys has led to conflicting claims for the islands of Southeast Asian nations that made the group of islands controversial. These countries are Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. And another
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country that enters the picture is United States of America that has been initiating diplomatic talks regarding the issue. China justifies its assertions through historical reasons such as the Han Dynasty and Ming Dynasty naval expedition in the islands. While the continental shelf principle has been the justification of Malaysia, Philippines has been asserting that the Spratly Islands are part of its territory through the proximity principle and Filipino explorations in 1956. Taiwans claims are practically the same with Chinas and Vietnam has been firm on its claim based on their history and continental shelf principle. On the other hand, the United States of America has been dragging itself into the issue by pledging to help the Philippines or partaking diplomatic relations between the conflicting countries. (www.globalsecurity.org, 2009). As the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs said, We want the tension to subside, we have a strong interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, and we are seeking a dialogue among all of the key players. In the aid of postmodernist analysis, we could come up with different analyses of this issue. First, one of the extremist views of the ideology implies that all of these claims of different nations are absolute truth and therefore all are acceptable. It implies that all justifications of the countries are right because power is centralized in individual countries. While on the other extreme, it conveys that neither of the territorial claims of the countries is correct and no one could monopolize the truth, thus, no country has the right for the islands. The issue can also be analysed using Foucaults concept of disciplinary power, which was viewed as the indirect manipulation of docile bodies. In this case, China has been the docile body. The country of billions of people has been relatively the stronger country among the nation-claimants. China has its military resources that are strong enough to attack other countries but it has never depended on such measures. According to the postmodern view, it is the case because of the belief of the Chinese country of the existence of surveillance. Such surveillance is the indirect eyeing of the United Nations and the whole international community. And finally, as one of the important assertion of the postmodern ideology, the concept of decentering the center and centering the marginalized can be used in the analysis of the East Asia conflict. To get away from the traditional, in analyzing and solving the issue according to the postmodern thinking, one should shift the locus of power. From seeing China as the dominant claimant, one should decenter the center and look in every claimant-nation as equals. One cannot label a single country as powerful while the other nations as otherwise, and
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perceive each country as equally powerful. And center the marginalized but putting the big American nation out of the picture. This will be made possible by letting the Asian countries settle the dispute through diplomatic relations among them, without the aid of the former.

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REFERENCE/S
Grossmann, M. (n.d.). Institutionalized Pluralism: Advocacy Organization Involvement in National Policymaking [Abstract]. Retrieved July 14, 2011 from http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/culture/papers/grossmann.pdf Mullard, M. & Spicker, P. (1998). Social Policy in a Changing Society. New York, NY: Routledge McNay, L. (1994). Foucault: A Critical Introduction. UK: Polity Press Sarup, M. (1993). An Introductory Guide to Post-Structuralism and Postmodernism. United States : University of Georgia Press New World Encyclopedia (2006). Bordieu, Pierre. Retrieved July 14 2011. from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pierre_Bourdieu#Theory_of_power_and_pr actice Olchondra, R. & Quismundo, T. (24 July 2011). Small-scale mining blamed for destruction. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved on July 16, 2011 from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/20971/small-scale-mining-blamed-for-destruction Yezzi, R. (2001). Michel Foucault. Retrieved July 14, 2011 from http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~yezzi/Foucault2.htm ______ (n.d.). Territorial claims in the Spratly and Paracel Islands. Retrieved on July 17, 2011 from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/spratly-claims.htm.

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