Postmodernism is a cultural dominant allowing coexisting subordinate features, not a uniform style.

Evidence

One of the concerns frequently aroused by periodizing hypotheses is that these tend to obliterate difference and to project an idea of the historical period as massive homogeneity (bounded on either side by inexplicable chronological metamorphoses and punctuation marks). This is, however, precisely why it seems to me essential to grasp Postmodernism not as a style but rather as a cultural dominant: a conception which allows for the presence and coexistence of a range of very different, yet subordinate, features. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 41

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core distinction the reader needs: cultural dominant vs monolithic style — the key concept for testing falsifiability of the totalizing thesis.
• QUESTION: If a cultural dominant permits subordinate coexisting features, how would one ever falsify ‘this period is postmodern’? The definition seems to absorb counterexamples — worth pushing.
• XREF: connects to: Postmodernism functions for Jameson as a cultural dominant marked by depthless pastiche. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 484; Postmodern culture’s vector is a new professional stratum between multinational capital and weakened classes. — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 164