![]() ![]() Foremost, postmodern philosophers are notoriously obscure in their writing. Libertarian stereotypes of postmodernism have a grain of truth. One would be hard pressed to find someone subscribing to both schools of thought.īut have libertarians too quickly dismissed postmodernism without critically examining the philosophy in depth? Some of its elements are compatible with libertarianism and can enhance the libertarian critique of the State. After all, the former refers to a philosophical trend embraced by largely leftist academics over the past half-century, while the latter refers to a political ideology of limited government that many characterize as center-right, originating to a great degree in the Enlightenment. The metanarratives become more disperse, numerous, and overlapping-which allow more freedom for individuals to choose their own values, but it also increases cultural conflicts that threaten to overwhelm the society in a more systemic way.Most people don’t see postmodernism and libertarianism as sharing much in common. As our media and cultural touchstones become more narrowcast and insular, our web of cultural stories also evolves. Storytelling may be inevitable, but the stories themselves are mutable. We have connection with other people as a biological need. So long as we remain social creatures, metanarratives are inevitable. ![]() for more than 150 years, but we’re still struggling with cultural racism as well as institutions that struggle to achieve broad consensus on affirmative action and criminal justice policies. Slavery, for example, has been outlawed in the U.S. Moreover, long-ingrained metanarratives can be disruptive even after a society rejects the meaning of their narrative. Even individuals, who reject parts or most of a society’s metanarrative, must still navigate within the society and its institutions. And so, while in many ways we can’t escape the metanarratives that continuously inform our cultural values, we can also pick and choose which narratives we use from one situation to another.įor better or worse, metanarratives bind us in a common cause and cultural touchstones. During championship games, divisional rivalries can melt into conference allegiances. Sports rivalries are steeped in previous competitions, tribal alliances, and legends who are larger than life, as well as the general lore of the sport itself. As other religions have their own scriptural texts, the Bible is a metanarrative for Christianity. More than just nation-states, the concept can apply to pretty much any significant social group. In the U.S., there is the story of throwing off the king’s tyranny, individualism and freedom to practice one’s own religion, the belief that everyone is created equal by their Creator, Manifest Destiny and conquering the West, the systemic oppression of black and Native populations, a melting pot nation of immigrants, the American Dream and American exceptionalism.Įxamining More Examples of Metanarratives Typically, there are competing and overlapping narratives within a social group. Metanarratives-which literally means “grand narrative”-is a story that provides context and meaning for the lives of an entire group of people. Metanarratives: The Stories that Cultural Groups Tell Themselves ![]()
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