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The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change
 
 
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The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change [Paperback]

David Harvey (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 392 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (14 Oct 1991)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0631162941
  • ISBN-13: 978-0631162940
  • Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 74,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Amazon.co.uk Review

The Condition of Postmodernity is David Harvey's seminal history of this, our most equivocal of eras. What does postmodernism mean? Where did it come from? Harvey, a Professor of Geography, and a key mover behind extending the scope and influence of the discipline of geography itself, does a thorough job here delineating the passage through to postmodernity and the economic, social and political changes that underscored and accompanied it. As he clearly states, the rise in postmodernist cultural forms is related to a new intensity in what Harvey terms "time-space compression" but this new intensity is a qualitive and not a quantitive change in social organisation and does not point to a era beyond capitalism as "the basic rules of capitalistic accumulation" remain unchanged. Unlike Fredric Jameson (whose equally rewarding Postmodernism stands as the twin pillar to Harvey's critique), who explicitly relies on Ernest Mandel's periodisation of Late Capitalism, Harvey eschews a narrowly economic focus, the limits and contradictions of production that have led to the rise in the service sector, and takes a more multidisciplinary approach to his history: as comfortable discussing Manet as he is labour markets. Harvey is an excellent writer and The Condition of Postmodernity is an exceptionally informative and enjoyable read. Mark Thwaite

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"Devastating. The most brilliant study of post–modernity to date. David Harvey cuts beneath the theoretical debates about postmodernist culture to reveal the social and economic basis of this apparently free–floating phenomenon. After reading this book, those who fashionably scorn the idea of a ′total′ critique had better think again." Terry Eagleton

"Few people have penetrated the heartland of contemporary cultural theory and critique as explosively or insightfully as David Harvey." Edward Soja

"David Harvey′s book is probably the best yet written on the link between ... economic and cultural transformations." Financial Times

"David Harvey′s engrossing book is probably the most readable, ambitious, and intelligent work on postmodernism yet published." Voice Literary Supplement

"In Harvey′s skilful hands various strands of contemporary life, normally held far apart by specialized scholarly interests, come together again and are shown to fit with each other ... a marvellous, enjoyable and mind–opening book." Times Literary Supplement

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50 of 51 people found the following review helpful
By Tom
Format:Paperback
This is a truly excellent critique of postmodernism and more particularly of the socio-economic reshaping of our contemporary culture that shaped it. Harvey does not delve into the more involved subdivisions within postmodernism, do not expect to discover the differences between post structuralism, deconstructionism or any of the other myriad postmodern schools, nor does he mean to. It is indicative that he titles his book as dealing with postmodernity rather postmodernism as such, the one simply being the philosophy of the other. It is with postmodernity, that is the current contemporary formation of capitalism, that Harvey is concerned and it is with that most modernist of theoretical tools, Marxism, that he explores it.

I had always suspected that Marxian analysis still retained more strength than the collapse of Soviet Communism suggested and now I am sure of it. The deliberate employment of a meta-narrative to investigate a movement so opposed to such formations is instructive and Harvey demonstrates how often postmodernists have to fall back on universals in the end. Harvey's main strength is in detailing how the change in the economic practice of capitalism has changed since 1973 and how that has affected social and in turn cultural currents.

While Professor Harvey runs the full gamut of cultural experiences here; art, philosophy, cinema etc he pays especial attention to architecture. He also pays especial attention to the investigation of the experiences of space and time and how these are affected by economics and how they shape cultural feeling. The latter half of this book is in many ways the most difficult as his models operate in a fairly high level of abstraction. However after the initial difficulties of thinking in these terms are overcome this proves to be a very rewarding approach to the issue. I'm not going to pretend that I understood everything here but I understood enough.

This is a book that provides the essential analytic tools and models for operating in a postmodern world even to those for whom the works of Derrida and Foucault hold no appeal at all. Harvey's concerns about the new aesthetic in public life, the dangers of charismatic politics and the resurgence of a narrow geopolitical outlook are equally as pressing now as they were in 1990. In order to see beyond the incestuous breeding of imagery to the realities beyond, increased inequality and big power chauvinism, this is precisely the sort of thing that you need to read. And now I'm off to read Das Kapital.

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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the only book which provides a convincing materialist analysis of postmodernism. Only Harvey has convincingly uncovered the economic underpinnings of the fragmented cultures and identities of advanced capitalist societies. This is a truly great book, one of the best contributions to understanding the late twentieth century. It deserves to be recognised as a sociological classic.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Harvey's book is one of two of the most original analyses of postmodernism (the other being Jameson's Postmodernism). Drawing particularly on the notion of flexible specialisation and a utilisation of the Regulationist approach, Harvey's book contributes to an understanding of the socio-economic foudations of the postmodern condition.
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