Postmodernism theory makes uncertainty about the age into its founding clue

Evidence

Postmodernism theory is one of those attempts: the effort to take the temperature of the age without instruments and in a situation in which we are not even sure there is so coherent a thing as an “age,” or Zeitgeist or “system” or “current situation” any longer. Postmodernism theory is then dialectical at least insofar as it has the wit to seize on that very uncertainty as its first clue and to hold to its Ariadne’s thread on its way through what may not turn out to be a labyrinth at all, but a gulag or perhaps a shopping mall. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 10

Categorization

• DEFINE: Characterizes postmodernism theory as a diagnostic practice that converts its own epistemic uncertainty into a method.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s stated goal of mapping their own position in the world system — the ‘gulag or shopping mall’ ambiguity is the heart of positioning. — connects to: Postmodernism discourse expresses a generation’s disillusionment rather than describing reality. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 625; The Davos debate was perceived as a generational rupture between Enlightenment and existentialism — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 243; Rapid social change deflates age as a prestige cue for knowledge and wisdom. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 444