There is no specific date on which to pin the advent of the postmodern age. The term was coined in reference to painting in 1870, and first cited as a descriptor for contemporary social and cultural thought in 1939. In 1960, the sociologist Daniel Bell published “The End of Ideology,” heralding a “post-industrial society” and laying the groundwork for postmodern thought as a guiding light in academia. Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault followed from the mid-’60s, cementing the philosophical base for postmodernism and popular derivatives like Edward Said’s postcolonial theory.
Yoni Goldstein: Postmodernism is coming to a natural end
