The Postmodern Other in the Populist Society

In the wake of the World War II, postmodern ideas took the world by storm, transcending the literary world and encompassing all spheres of life. Lyotard’s “postmodern condition” gave rise to the prevalent philosophy of rejecting and deconstructing meta-narratives, which previously governed the academic frame of thought. Countering American conformism of the 1940s, the birth of various human rights movements germinated the notion of “Otherness” in the heavily uniform consumerist society. This reinforced the importance of personal perspective with twofold consequences – the flourishment of minority perspectives and the accession of diversity in perspectives and perception. The paper examines how the works of Donna Harraway, bell hooks and Salman Rushdie encouraged the growing salience of the marginalised Other in the society in the face of the white male domination. In turn, an onslaught of unsupported scientific opinions harboured by the dominant societal groups burgeoned under the pretext of respecting subjectivities. The paper expands on Englebretsen, Laquer and Willower’s criticism of the postmodern thought and support of mini-narratives. In the light of the recent racist and nationalist outbreaks, theories on evolutionary psychology and motivation are looked into with regards to the possible fear of being side-lined by the previously subjugated groups. It may be inferred that the ascension of the scientific scepticism, combined with the insistence on the acknowledgement of every opinion have sparked off a series of unwarranted consequences displayed through intolerance and animosity