Putting the Pop Back into Postmodernism

Author(s): Lawrence Grossberg

Source: Social Text, No. 21, Universal Abandon? The Politics of Postmodernism (1989), pp. 167190
Published by: Duke University Press
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Puttingthe Pop Back into Postmodernism

LawrenceGrossberg

ofpostmodernism
Discussions
dominate
inculincreasingly
writings
and criticism,
and theyare alreadyentering
turaltheory
intomore
ofandaboutpopularculture.
Buttheterm
populardiscourses
postis
notonlybecauseitappearstoplaceus outmodernism beguiling,
sidehistory,
thefuture,
butalso becauseit
within
or,atleast,already
is sucha "readerly"
ofthe
term;itleavesso muchtotheimagination
reader.Although
seemsto agreethatsignificant
everyone
changes
haveoccurredin almostall thedomainsofour lives,and thatnew
elements
andconfigurations
areactive
cultural,
social,andhistorical
in thecontemporary
there
is
little
abouthowto
world,
agreement
thesechanges,
or evenwhereto beginthe"diagnosis"
of
interpret
Aswithothertermsofperiodization,
the"postmodern."
theissueis
notitsoriginsbutitsresonances
and theparticular
waysinwhichit
has slid fromone discourseintoanother.
Its embraceof multiple
ofhierarchies
havedefined
a radicalantiessencodingsandrejection
thathasrapidly
tialism
into
the
arts
and
art
spread
criticism,
popular
in theinevitable
and finally,
returnof therepressed,
culture,
to a
ofnewformsofhistorical
existenceand socialexperidescription
ence.
Withineach of the domainsin which postmodernism
has
there
have
been
debates
about
the
various
appeared,
emergent
pracoftheterrain,
and about
tices,abouttheextentoftheirdominance
whethertheyare actually
newpracticesor merelyinflections
and
of
ones.Butthereallocusofdebate
configurationsalready
existing
has been thequestionof therelations
betweenthedomains.The
claimofthediscourses
mostpowerful
ofpostmodernism
is to have
167

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168 Lawrence Grossberg

lifethatcuts
defineda significant
registeror plane of contemporary
acrossthevariousdomainsofexistence.Likeso manyothertermsof
cultural theory,postmodernismmoves, perhaps too quickly and
easily,betweenculturaland sociohistoricalquestions.There is little
agreementabout the natureand structureof the relationsthatcut
across the domains,about the connectionsbetweeneconomic and
social relationsand historicaldevelopments,culpoliticalstructures,
turalpracticesand livedexperiences.Here we findthatthepostmodernistdebates have oftenmerelyrepeatedmanyof the assumptions
in culturalpolitics,by assumingthatthe
of previouscontroversies
connectionsbetweenvariouselementsare self-revealing.1
is the assumptionthatthe very"postmodEven more disturbing
of
ernity" particularpracticesor eventscan be read directlyofftheir
is that
surfaces,especiallysincea foundinginsightofpostmodernism
to confidently
difficult
assumetheidentity
ithas become increasingly
or significanceof particularevents.Some would claim thatthisis a
in whichthetexthas become
resultofa crisisin theoryand criticism
mob wildlyapproa babel of voices and theaudience a fragmented
lives.
havearguedthatit
into
their
own
Others
can
what
they
priating
is a resultof real changesthathave takenplace and are now coded,
howeverobliquely,intothevarioussocial and culturalpracticesthat
lifein latecapitalism.The problemofinterpretdefinecontemporary
ing anyculturaltext,social practice,or historicaleventmustalways
a contextaroundit,mappingout itslinesofconinvolveconstructing
nectionwithotherpractices,texts,relations,and so on. Such contextsare not merelya matterforempiricalinvestigation,
although
are necessaryifthe contextsare not to become
such investigations
the imaginaryprojectionsof particularempowered communities,
fantasiesof critics.In the case of culturalprace.g., the intertextual
tices,these contextsinclude,butare notexhaustedby,topographies
of consumptionand tastethatdeterminewhichof thevastintertextBut contextsare not entirelyempiriual possibilitiesare effective.
are
notalreadycompleted,stableconfigbecause
available
they
cally
anotherelement.Theyare not
receive
to
urations,passivelywaiting
conthe siteof contradictions,
are
rather
but
advance
in
guaranteed
and
flicts, struggles.
In Gramscianterms,anyinterpretation
(forthatmatter,
anyhistora
an
active
insertion
of
an
is
ical practice)
articulation,
practiceintoa
and effectsof
the
that
determines
set of contextualrelations
identity

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Puttingthe Pop Back into Postmodernism 169

both the textand the context.Articulation

is the continuousdeconstructionand reconstruction
of contexts.These articulatedconnections are sometimesfoughtover,consciouslyor unconsciously,
but
in anycase, an articulation
is alwaysaccomplished(a victorycan be
won withouta battle)and will alwayshave politicalconsequences.
The notion of articulationabandons criticaltheories built upon
models ofcommunication,
ofthedifference
betweenencoding(proand
a
duction)
decoding (consumption), differencethat divides
into the search forintendedor preferredmeanings
interpretation
and receivedor effective
meanings.Articulation
rejectsthe assumptionthatthetwomomentsare,even analytically,
separable,as ifeach
were completedor completable.Instead,it describes the ongoing

to producethetextbyinserting
itintoa network
of"natustruggle
ralized"relations.
force(e.g.,producers
Encodingis a continuous
continueto makestatements),
and decodingis alreadyactivein the
efforts
to encode.One cannotseparatethemateriality
ofa textfrom
itsappropriation,
norcanone separatestructures
frompractices.
The theoryof articulation
has important
forour
implications
oftherelations
betweendomination,
understanding
subordination,
and opposition.
Its disdainforanyassumedhistorical
resistance,
anditsemphasison thereality
ofstruggle
directthecritic
necessity
towardthecomplexandcontradictory
relations
ofpowerthatintersectandorganizeanaudience'srelation
toparticular
cultural
texts.It
does notsaythatpeoplealwaysstruggle,
or thatwhentheydo,they
do so in wayswe condone.Butit does say,boththeoretically
and
thatpeople are nevermerelypassivelysubordinated,
politically,
nevertotally
neverentirely
manipulated,
incorporated.
Peopleare
in
and sometimes
with,within,
engaged struggles
againstrealtendentialforcesanddeterminations
intheirefforts
toappropriate
what
theirrelations
to particular
theyare given.Consequently,
practices
andtextsarecomplexandcontradictory:
in
theymaywinsomething
the struggleagainstsexismand lose something
in the struggle
againsteconomicexploitation;
theymaybothgainand lose someandalthough
thingeconomically;
theylose ideological
ground,
they
Ifpeoples'livesarenevermerely
maywinsomeemotional
strength.
determined
and iftheirsubordination
bythedominant
is
position,
and
culturerequiresus to
active,understanding
alwayscomplex
lookathowpractices
areactively
inserted
atparticular
sitesofevery-

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170 LawrenceGrossberg
day life and at how particulararticulationsempower and disempower theiraudiences.
In thisrespect,we need to recognizethatempowermentcan take
thereis a difference
betweenpositive
a varietyofforms;in particular,
and negativeempowerment.2
Mostculturalcriticismfocuseson culto thedominantpositionsand ideture'scriticalrelation(negativity)
as resistanceto or emancipation
defined
becomes
Politics
ologies.
froman assumed reality;politics is measured by difference.But
empowermentcan also be positive;celebration,however much it
can be enabling.Oppositionmaybe
ignoresrelationsofdomination,
withinalternative
constituted
practices,
byliving,even momentarily,
and spaces,even thoughtheymaytakeno noticeof their
structures,
relationshipto existingsystemsof power. In fact,when one wins
ithas to be filledwithsomesome space withinthesocial formation,

The "funcone caresforpassionately.

something
presumably
thing,
thatis constructed
hereopensthepossibiloftheidentity
tionalism"
Anditis herethatquestionsofdesire
itiesofpositive
empowerment.
thansecondary
raised
as
more
must
be
andpleasure
epiphenomena.
distoooftensees pleasureas,at best,a momentary
Critical
theory
it
never
ofpowerthatis inevitably
ofstructures
recuperated;
ruption
ittends
ofpleasureitself.
Moreover,
explorestheactualfunctioning
of opposition(e.g.,
traditions
to locatepleasurewithinromantic
urbanpleasuresarevalorizedmoreoftenthansuburban).3
Although
arenevernecessarily
ofpassionandpositivity
suchmoments
politiwe
that
life
of
of
the
terrain
a
constitute
do
everyday
cized,they
part
mustenterintoto open up itscontradictions,
"renovating
thereby
thedebates
In fact,
analready
'critical'
andmaking
existing
activity."4
and
articulation
of
an
site
define important
aboutpostmodernism
world.Ifwe acceptthatnewpractices
in thecontemporary
struggle
terrain
andhistorical
(the
andeventshaveappearedon thecultural
in
never
are
and
their
guaranteed
politics
postmodern), significance
are
articulated
How
appropriated,
interpreted,
they
advance.5
ofsocialandcultural
locatedwithin
practices
configurations
larger
of
forms
for
new
and
effects
their
willdetermine meanings
popular
we mustchallengetheveryterms
Consequently,
politicalstruggle.
theterrain,
debateshavestructured
whichthepostmodernist
within
culabouttheseemergent
to acceptthattheirassumptions
refusing
a
turalconfigurations
reality,
merelydescribea taken-for-granted
warnsus thatwhenwe studymonnewcommonsense.Nietzsche

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thePop BackintoPostmodernism171
Putting
sters,we musttakecare to avoid becomingmonsters.Yet the postmodernistshaveoftenconstructed
theworld,and thepeople in it,in
theirown imagesofmonstrosity.
Theyhave expungedthefunctional
the
from
culture
of
everydaylife;theyhave ignoredthe
positivity
of
the
articulation
of
such practicesin everydaylifeand
complexity
failedto examine the extentto whichand the ways in whichthese
practicesare empowering.

The PostmodernistDebates
It is crucialto remindourselvesthatpostmodernism
is onlyone way
of demarcatingthe intellectualand politicalterrainand could be
contrastedwiththe broaderdifference
thathas been more recently
notions
of
culture.6This has
suggested by
"post-Enlightenment"
for
the
in
which
the
fieldhas been hisconsequences
important
way
and
constituted.
For
structurally
torically
example,postmodernism
themeasure,ifnottheagent,ofhistorical
makesaestheticdifference
difference.Consequently,
the antiessentialism
of postmodernpractices-their celebrationof the local, the contextual,the fragment-can onlyfunctionas the negationof modernistpractices.To accept
this,however,is to assume that this antiessentialismis inherent
withinand self-evidently
availableupon the surfaceof postmodern
the
debates
practices.Thus,
begin by assumingthatpracticesspeak
theirown truth,a truththatis not constructedbut merelyreported.
Further,its privilegingof the aestheticoftenleads to a particular
readingof essentialismthatprivilegesidentityover difference
and,
as the celebrationof differhence, to a readingof antiessentialism
ence. This conflationof the postmodernwith poststructuralism
ignoresthe more radicalvisionthatrejectstheverylogic of identity
- oftencitedas thesourcesof
The Europeantheorists
and difference.
critical
work,includingBaudrillard,Foucault,Deleuze,
postmodern
and Guattari--haveall arguedfora theoryof othernessratherthan
For example,Baudrillardhas argued,againstMarx and
difference.
Saussure,thattheerasureof theprivilegedtermofidentity
(e.g., the
signified,or use-value) cannotbe takento suggestthe primacyof
productivedifference
capturedin thesecond term(e.g.,thesignifier,
or exchange-value).Differenceitselfcollapses into ineffectivity.
If
thereis no signified,
thereis no signifier;
to say thateverything
has

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172 LawrenceGrossberg
become exchange-valueis to renderthe veryconceptof exchange
value useless. There is no realitywaitingbehind the surfacesthat
betweensurfaceand
replace them;theverydifference
increasingly
realityis ineffective.7
butindependentsites
Thereare,I would argue,threeinterrelated
discourses:ideology,power,and hisofdebatewithinpostmodernist
the
toricalontology.
Again,theprimacyoftheaestheticin structuring
fieldmakes it almostinevitablethatthe dominantconcern of the
debatesis ideologicaland textual.Postmodernpracpostmodernist
a set of featuresthatare
ticesare usuallydescribedby constructing

thatexpressorembodythecontemfeatures
constitutive,
necessarily
betweensignifier
andsignified,
ofthedifference
ineffectivity
porary
anddifference,
andcopy,identity
partand
original
imageandreality,
whole,surfaceand depth,truthand politics.In variouscombinaaredescribed--negatively--as
denying
tions,postmodern
practices
meanclosure,
coherence,
origin,
representation,
expression,
totality,
as
and
and
freedom,
creativity hierarchy; positivelying,teleology,
surfaces,
diversity,
rupture,
fragmentation,
discontinuity,
celebrating
quotaheterogeneity,
pastiche,
chance,contextuality,
egalitarianism,
ofreflexive
ofa practice
Yetthisdescription
andparodies.
fragtions,
rendersitavailableonlyin itspurelynegative
mentation
aspect--as
areall presentin,ifnotsig-since thesepractices
antiessentialism
the
modernist
constitutive
of,
project.This is often
nificantly
thattheparticular
condition:
a
second
with
to
namely,
responded
as a
be
understood
can
a
of
only
postmodernity specificpractice
This
of
modernism.
tradition
constructed
a
of
narrowly
negation
betweenmodern
avoidsthemorecomplexquestionoftherelations
andpostmodern
practices.
debates
withinthepostmodernist
Thereare twomajorpositions
rootedin
thefirst,
statusofparticular
overtheideological
practices:
statusoftheworkof
withthecommodity
is concerned
artcriticism,
and
ofcommodification
tothelargercontext
artanditsrelationship
criticism,
thesecond,rootedinliterary
ofrepresentation;
thepolitics
in
mostclearlypresented
Theformer,
readstextsas signsofhistory.
Andreas
and
Rosalind
Hal
Krauss,
of
thework
Foster,
CraigOwens,
that"incultural
on theassumption
is predicated
politics
Huyssen,8
which
a
between
exists
a basic opposition
postmodernism
today,
a
and
the
status
andresist
modernism
postseekstodeconstruct
quo
modernismwhich repudiatesthe formerto celebrate the latter:a

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thePop BackintoPostmodernism173
Putting
postmodernismof resistanceand a postmodernismof reaction."9
This distinctionreplaces and displaces the older (and admittedly
betweenhighand mass artand betweenthe
exhausted)distinctions
and
mainstream
culture,but,at the same time,it strucavant-garde
turallyreproduces,withinthe aestheticfielditself,an intrinsicideological differencebetween "authentic"works--whichnecessarily
of artand life--and"coopted" works-resistthe commodification
which allow and even celebratetheirown commodification.
Insofar
does not correspondto different
as the distinction
of
points origin
(modes of production)or r&ception(audiences), the elitismof the
old mass culturedebateshas disappeared.But insofaras thedistinctionis locatedwithin"thetextitself,"in how thetextdeterminesits
own consumption(oftentransposedback to the intentionsof the
artist),old formsof elitismhave merelybeen superseded by new
forms.Even ifwe acceptthepremisethatthe distinction
existsas it
has been described,and thatit can be read offoftextualdifferences,
such an aestheticsof postmodernismfailsto question the place of
such practices-even the celebrationof thecommodity--within
the
lives
of
It
is
assumed
that
such
everyday
people.
simply
practices,
whetherin relationsofproductionor consumption,
can haveno positivefunction.
correctas
Pleasure,forexample,can onlybe politically
the pleasure--howevertemporary-ofresistance;onlywhen posiis derivedfromnegativity
can it be politicallyjustified.
tivity
The workof FredricJameson'ois the clearestexample of a positionwithinthepostmodernist
debatesthatreadsculturalpracticesas
the ideological sign of contemporaryhistory.Jameson sees the
"truth"of postmoderncultural practices,not on their surfaces
(althoughtheirstatusas postmodernis givenon theirsurfaces),but
to a deep structure
in theirrelationship
ofreal his(a metanarrative)
the
toricalprocesses:
transformation
frommonopolyto late capitaland thesaturationofeverydaylifebythecomism,multinationalism,
modityform.ForJameson,postmoderntextsare thedisplacedsigns
of thenew political-economic
context,a displacementthatis accomthe
mediation
of
plished by
experience.Textualpracticesare not
the
reflections
of
economic
merely
structures;
theyare the expressions of how we experience such structures,
experiencesalready
contaminatedby ideology.Cultureexpressesand determinesexperience,which,in turn,reflectsand is determinedby political-ecoTextualfragmentation
nomic reality.
is a sign of the real fragmenta-

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174 Lawrence Grossberg

a signoftheintentional
whichis itself
tionofoursubjectivity,
(both
and
of
in
multinational
material)
fragmentationspace
ideological
thereis littlespacefor
Onceagain,inJameson's
account,
capitalism.
the
such
for
of
are
thepleasures
texts,
waysthey usedas thesitesof
and empowerment
lives.
celebration
by people in theireveryday
has pointedto theappallingly
MicheleBarrett"1
negativeimageof
in thistheory.
Thisis evident,forexample,in
pleasureoperating
thenewforms
to
ofsocialactivities
acknowledge
Jameson's
inability
and relationsthathaveemerged,especiallyamongyouth,in the
thathe describes.
architecture
spacesofthepostmodern
it is the critic'staken-for-granted
For bothFosterandJameson,
andeconomicstructures,
and ofthehisofpolitical
understanding
theideology
thatdefines
andpoliticsofpostmodern
torical
narrative,
withineitherthetext
Thereis no spaceforcontradictions
practices.
we
topolitical
forexample,
or itsrelationship
ForJameson,
struggle.
theorganization
of
need new "maps"to enableus to understand
mute
the
on
other
remain
The
in
late
masses,
hand,
capitalism.
space
ideandpassive,cultural
dopeswhoaredeceivedbythedominant
the
the
critic
as
the
to
of
who
and
only
leadership
respond
ologies,
theproper
one capableofunderstanding
ideologyandconstituting
Atbest,themassessucceedinrepresentsiteandformofresistance.
Butwithout
thecritic,
torespond.
theyareunable
ingtheirinability
eventoheartheirowncriesofhopelessness.
Hopelesstheyareand
untilsomeoneelseprovidesthemwiththe
shallremain,
presumably
andcritical
modelsofresistance.
mapsofintelligibility
necessary
andFoster
textsthesignofhistory,
makespostmodern
IfJameson
makesthemthesiteofan already-defined
againstthathisstruggle
of thepostvision
a
radical
more
Baudrillardl2
presents
tory,
Jean
Postmodof
historical
and
substance
form
modernas thevery
reality.
site
thehistorical ofthe
are theveryfabricofreality,
ernpractices
betweenappearcollapseofanygap betweenideologyandhistory,
ForBaudrillandrepresentation.
betweenmeaning
anceand reality,
has
difference
no
is
difference
effective;
imploded,
every
ard,
longer
useless
a
of
constructions
the
all
reality
meaningful
binary
rendering
relations
all
that
is notmerely
Baudrillard
andinoperative.
claiming
havebecomeprobis constructed
whichidentity
from
ofdifference
hasreplaced
of
the
the
that
not
It
is
lematic.
signifier
primacy
merely
realm
of
the
that
but
the
thepowerof
meaningand
very
signified,
between
thefactthatthedifference
similarly,
signshasdisappeared;

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Puttingthe Pop Back into Postmodernism 175

has
realityand appearanceand between realityand representation
thelatteras a result
collapsed (the formerin thenineteenthcentury,
of the media'snegationof theirown mediation)means thatappearhave disappeared.Realityas thesiteofthe
ance, meaning,and reality
and
of
desires,
powershas driftedaway,leavingus in a
origin effects,
that
is
alwaysand only a simulacrum.In the simula"hyperreality"
crum, nothingexists outside "the compulsive repetitionof the
codes"; it is merelythatwhichcan be modeled, thatwhichalready
fitsthe model,thatis positionedas the "hyperreal."We live in "the
age of eventswithoutconsequences"13in which the real is onlya
Baudrillardis rarelyused in theradical
formalcategory.
Interestingly,

he is moretypically
formthathisowntheory
suggests;
appropriated
backintoa situationist
and thesimulacritiqueofcommodification
tionofan authentic
(whichis stillapparently
reality
hidingbehind
backbycapitalist
thescenebutbeingpushedfarther
as if
strategies),
a matter
oftheimagehavingbecomemorerealthan
itweresimply
thedifference
ForBaudrillard,
has becomeirrelevant;
itno
reality.
or makesa difference.
longermatters
within
Ofall thepositions
is
debates,Baudrillard's
postmodernist
the one mostwillingto celebratethe practicesand situations
it
the
celebration
takesa particular
describes.Yet,
form:itis celebraan embracing
tionin thefaceof inevitability,
of nihilism
without
sincethereis no realpossibility
ofstruggle.
It is,in
empowerment,
as resignation,
sincetheonlyresponseto thecolfact,celebration
is thecelebration
ofan indifference
"atleastas
lapseofdifference
elitism
of
this
The
as something
negativity
great."14
(masquerading
whichBauelse) is obviousintheassumedprivileged
positionfrom
is abletoconfidently
drillard
describecontemporary
outexistence,
livesofitsactors.Further,
sideoftheeveryday
thatdescription
allows
and no possibility
forno contradictions
of struggle,
in eitherthe
future.
The
or
the
massesalreadylivetheindifference
Baupresent
drillard
tospeak,or to be spoken
proposes;theyrefuseto struggle,

for.Althoughthisappearsto place the masses at the leadingedge of

since onlytheyalreadylive withinthesimulacrum,embrachistory,
the
itis in realitythecriticing
disappearanceofagencyand activity,
Baudrillard-who speaks and even denies the masses the rightor
the desireto speak.The criticbecomes theonlyvoice- thevoice of
- in history.
the ventriloquist

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176 LawrenceGrossberg
The negativityof Baudrillard'scelebrationof the postmodern
depends in parton his theoryof power,and it is thisthirdsite of
oftheFrenchto
debate thathas markedthemostvisiblecontribution
debates:structurehas become the verylocus of
the postmodernist
power. For Baudrillard,power existsin the binarycodes thatcontinue to constructdifferences(e.g., between subject and object,
and passivity,
activity
powerand resistance)as
appearanceand reality,
But the only effectof such codes is to
if theywere stilleffective.
of
are no longerconstitutive
occlude the factthatthesedifferences
an
them
as
needs
"alibi."
the (hyper)real,thatthesimulacrum
only
Poweris no longerin realitybutin thecontinuing
appearanceofthe
real. Power has disappeared,collapsed into itssimulation.For Fouanyhierarchy-andconsequently,any
cault,Deleuze, and Guattari,
the operationof power.15 Hence,
or unity--entails
code, structure,
withinwhich
realitymustbe treatedexclusivelyas local fragments
of otherpower operates merelyas the microphysicalconstitution
ness.Thus,politicalstrugglecan be definedsolelybyitsfundamental
There can be no vision of alternative
opposition to any structure.
the
of
or
structures
oppressivenessofthelocal context.Thereis only
which orgaan ongoing battlebetweenthe forcesof structuration,
and the forcesof radical negativity.
nize identitiesand differences,
- is the only
- deterritorialization
Local oppositionto anystructure
formof politicalstruggle.
In thispostmodernist
theoryof power,the celebrationof specific
possibilitiesgiveswayto thecelebrationof the emptypossibilityof
and withoutanypossible purchaseon
otherness,withoutcontinuity
thatorganizeeverydayexistence.This suggests
the largerstructures
of pure negativity,
a politicsof terrorism,
resembles
that
something
of
and
abstract
an
absolute
builtupon
principle "resistance"as the
other of "power."But the abilityto draw thisdistinctiondepends
upon the particularelitistrelationshipthatthe criticestablishesto
thosewho are struggling.16
Althoughthepositionseems to acknowlsuchstrugglesare allowed only
of
the
reality peoples'struggles,
edge
and refuseto offerthemradical
their
as
insofar theyspeak
negativity
in
selves as reterritorializations.
But, fact,such real strugglesare
nevertrulyallowed to speak,forthatwould requireus to recognize
thattheyclaim for
and the formsof positivity
theircontradictions
themselves.

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thePop BackintoPostmodernism177
Putting

Postmodernismand the Popular Sensibility

debates and posiMy claim,then,is thatthe variouspostmodernist
tionshavefailedto accountforthepowerand place oftheemergent
social and culturalpracticespreciselybecause theyignoretheirarticulationintoeverydaylife.Remainingwithinthediscursiveterrainof
the dominantideologicalapparatuses,thedebateshave ignoredthe
celebratory
empowerment(as well as theparticularformsof disempowerment)thatsuch practicesmayenable. In fact,these debates
continueto privilegeaestheticpracticesthathaveappropriatedthose
strategies(minustheenormouspassionofteninvestedin them)that
have become thenormof popular culturein theage of mass media.
(It is, forexample,thisreturnto the terrainof the popular- as the
is at the heartof postmodernarchitectural
pracvernacular--that
tices.)
The failureof thepostmodernist
debatesresultsin partfromtheir
lack
attention
to
of
surprising
popularcultureand everydaylife,even
oftheimportanceofthecollapse of
in spiteoftheiracknowledgment
betweenhigh and popular culture.When it is at all
the difference
considered,popularcultureis treatedas ifitwere eitherhighartamenable to thesame kindsof criticalconcernsand practicesas the
sanctionedformsof culture--ordocumentary
more institutionally
evidence-as ifits statusas popular were insignificant
to its active
insertioninto the lives of people. As a result,the postmodernist
debates have failedto considerthe relationsbetweenpostmodern
practicesand hegemonic (or popular) political formations.They
have ignoredwhatGramsci,Benjamin,and Lefebvrehave all recognized, thatpower increasinglyentersinto and strugglesover the
domainof everydaylifeand commonsense.
Popular cultureis not simplythe incorporationof high-cultural
practicesintoless powerful,and certainlyless political,forms.Popular cultureis not merelythe appropriationof strategiesand structuresdevelopedelsewhere,an appropriation
thatinevitably
weakens
the power of these "higher"aesthetic-signifying
forms.Such a view
and transformation
that
ignoresthecomplexformsof incorporation
occur as specificculturalpracticesmove betweendifferent
configurationsand domainsof our lives. In fact,specificpostmodernpractices are oftenmost powerfullypresentpreciselywithinformsof
art
popular culture,while manyof the strategiesof contemporary

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178 LawrenceGrossberg
draw upon more commonformsof mass communicaincreasingly
we oughtto ask whetherthe postmoderncan be
tion. Ultimately,
understoodin purelytextualtermsor whether,in fact,it depends
upon what PierreBourdieu calls a differencein "aestheticsensibilities."17
and historically
Bourdieuasksus to beginwithsociallydistributed
of consumption,and of the
determinedpracticesof appropriation,
activeinsertionofspecificformsintopeoples' everydaylives.He distinguishesbetween two sensibilities.The dominantsensibilitysub-whether
ordinatesfunctionto form,lifeto art.It treatseverything
worksof art,profaneculturalobjects,social events,and even natural
It is
as formratherthanfunction."18
objects--"inand forthemselves,
to questions of how we investourselves in the world
indifferent
Because ittakesculturetoo
throughtheobjectsin our environment.
as
everything
seriously,itrefusesto takelifeseriously.Byarticulating
ofneeds,functions,
or pasform,itfreesitselffromanyconsideration
on theotherhand,affirms
the "contisions.The popular sensibility,
which
of form
and
the
subordination
art
between
life,
impties
nuity
It articulateseverything
into the richlytexturedand
to function."19
world of everydaylife.The dominant--legitimatedcontradictory
neutralizes
any affectiverelations to cultural objects,
sensibility
its
formal
life
to
conceptionof art;the popular sensibility
reducing
incorporateslegitimatedartobjectsand questionsof formintolife,
structuresof everyday
into the ideological,material,and affective
concerns.
of popular culturedepends preciselyon its close
The specificity
economies.Afterall, anypracticeis articulated
relationto affective
intoa situationor contextthatnotonlyis meaningfulbut also has a
feelor mood; itis markedbydifparticular"coloration,"a particular
of
and
ferentforms
quantities energy(i.e., thesame object,withthe
in different
affective
same meaning,is verydifferent
contexts).Lifeis
there
ofwhatmatters;
and also bydefinitions
mappedout intelligibly
are notonlymaps of meaningbutmaps thatbothdescribeand prescribe how we investour energies,our desires,our passion, and
even our "selves" in the world,maps thattell us how to generate
energy,how to navigateour way into and throughvariousmoods,
and how to livewithinemotionalhistories.Thisis notto saythatpopor thatthereare
ularcultureis notengagedin ideologicalstructures
and politics.
structures
no relationsbetweenideologicaland affective

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Puttingthe Pop Back into Postmodernism 179

between
It is onlyifwe beginto recognizethecomplexrelations
and ideologythatwe can makesenseof people'semotional
affect
tofindtheenergytosurlife,andtheirstruggles
life,theirdesiring
It
in
let
alone
is
the
terms
oftheserelations
that
vive,
struggle. only
need
we canunderstand
and
to
in
maintain
a
"faith"
people's
ability
their
immediate
existence.
whichis at
Suchfaith,
something
beyond
leastpartof whatis involvedin politicalstruggle,
dependsupon
thatare articulated
investments
affective
intobutnotconstituted
by
ofmeaning.
structures
and politicsof postmodern
The significance
practicesare too
left
to
debates
to
about
be
Norcanthese
postmodernism.
important
be
addressed
a
merelyby postulating relationship
questions
betweensuchisolatedpractices,
whether
or as a moveindividually
and
the
social
formation.
Suchpracticescan be understood
ment,
toa particular
historical
formation
atthe
constructed
onlyinrelation
of therangeof interacting
intersection
culturalpractices,
and the
ofpopularsensibility
withwhichpeopleappropriate
configurations
andarticulate
themintotheireveryday
suchpractices
lives.Thisformationis neversimpleornoncontradictory.
Boththefieldofcultural
extendacrossa
practicesand thedomainof popularsensibilities
Anddifferent
broadrangeofdifferences.
cultural
as wellas
practices,
different
are
popularsensibilities, constantly
undercutting,
opposing,
eachotherwithintheunstableformation
and reinflecting
ofeverythathavebecomethefocusofthepostdaylife.Thus,thepractices
debateshaveto be locatedwithinthisbroadercontext,
modernist
withinwhichtheirsignificance,
importance,
power,and effectivity
andfought
over.Wecannotsimply
areconstituted
assumethatthey
definethe dominantmomentof our popularexistencesimply
or becausetheyarethemostinteresting
becausetheyareemergent,
the
on
cultural
horizon.
Thisis, at leastin part,whatis
practices
overin thecurrent
debatesaboutpostmodernism.
beingstruggled
the space betweenutopianism
and nihilism,
we must
Navigating
understand
howtheapparent
lossofa certain
setofcritical
positions
anddifferences
Postmodern
mayyetbe empowering.
point
practices
ofcertain
tothearticulation
modernist
andconceptsintoa
practices
whichexistsonlyin thelargerstructure
ofthe
popularsensibility,
formation
of everyday
life.This incorporation
involvesselections,
theconstruction
of particular
and an
connections
redistributions,
investment
in particularsites,i.e.,theconstruction
affective
offorms

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180 LawrenceGrossberg
and celebration.Byshifting
theterrain,
fromformto senofpositivity
to
culture
and
from
can
we
everydaylife,
begin to recognize
sibility,
can be postmodern,but thatthepostmoderndoes not
thatanything
exhaustthe popular.
thisarticulation
historicaland expeoperatesata particular
Finally,
rientialjuncture,which is markedby whatJamesonhas called "the
butwhichis moreaccurately
seen as thecollapse of
waningofaffect"
betweenaffect
and meaning.It is thehistherelation(the difference)
toricaleventofan absentrelationbetweenthesetworegisters(forms
thatframesand inflectstheformsoffragmentation
and
ofeffectivity)
to whichthepostmodernist
debatespoint.It is not that
indifference
we do notcontinueto havean affective
relationto theworldbutthat
such relationsare not anchoredin and do not correspondto other
available social maps. Contemporaryideological structuresseem
incapableofmakingsense ofcertainaffective
experiences.The latter
cannot be representedbecause theyhave apparentlybeen deterscene. These affective
momentsare
minedelsewhere,in a different
and
intothe
than
stitched
"free-floating" autonomous,ratheri
being
thatmake our lives intelligistructuresof meaningand subjectivity
ble. But thisdoes not mean thatwe do not continueto live within
and experience ourselvesin termsof particularideological meanunrelatedto our
ings and values; simplythattheseare increasingly
affectivemoods, thattheycannot speak to them.20Thus, we are
lives so as to investourselvesinto
unable to organizeour affective
to
make theirapparentinevitability
unable
themin significant
ways,
butthatitdoes notmatterwhat
It
that
is
not
matter.
nothingmatters,
does, as long as somethingdoes. As Pat Aufderheidehas recently
"This is thegenerationthatinheritedthe cry,'I can'tget no
written,
Andtheyliveitscontradictions,
satisfaction.'
grabbingat satisfactions
while rejectingthe possibilityitself.It's a punkethos,nihilismconwiththe tools of consumerpassion."21Thus
structedpunishingly
an
becomes
impossible(ideological) butnecessary(affechappiness
relevancecollapsesintoitsextreme
its
or
tive)reality, rather, affective
maps are unable to
ideologicalimages.Our ideologicaland affective
to articulateone another.Andwhilewe continueto necesintersect,
we findourselves
constructedunity,
sarilyassume theirhistorically
livingwithintheirautonomousspaces.
increasingly
We appropriateeventsand practicesinto thisspace, using them
or interpretations
butsimplyas empowering
notas representations

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Puttingthe Pop Back into Postmodernism 181

signposts- billboards--thatmark,perhapseven celebrate,the gap

itself.(Anotherimagethatoffersitselfis themeaninglessand apparthatour grandparents
used to collect.)Billentlyuseless bric-a-brac
boards are notsignsof a displaced meaningor reality;theyare not
withinlargereconomiesofintelligibility.
We drivepastbillsignifiers
because we alreadyknowwhatthey
boardswithoutpayingattention,
We are usuallydrivingtoo
say,or because we knowitdoesn'tmatter.
and we haveseen themall before.Buttheydo tellus
quicklyanyway,
whatroad we are on, whatdirectionwe are following;theyreaffirm
thatwe are in factmoving,even ifwe are goingnowhere:"[itis as
if]
themotiveofthisscavengingis togo on; notto progress,because we
no longerbelieve in progress... [itis] thedesperatedetermination
to go on at anycost."22But billboardsdo more thanmarkthemere
factof our affective
existence;theyenable itas well. Theyare,in that
like
the
sense,
"tags"ofhip-hopculture,markingsitesof investment
and empowerment.The postmodernsensibilityappropriatespractices as boasts thatannounce their own-and consequentlyour
own- existence,likea rapsongboastingoftheimaginary
(or realit makes no difference)accomplishments
of the rapper.Theyoffer
notonlyin thefaceof nihilismbutprecisely
formsofempowerment
of
nihilism
forms
the
itself:an empoweringnihilism,a
through
the
momentofpositivity
ofaffecthrough productionand structuring
tiverelations.
Postmodernbillboardsare empoweringpreciselybecause they
enable us to continueto struggleto make a difference,
despitethe
factthatwe takeitforgrantedthatsuchstrugglesare impossible.The
postmodernsensibilityreconnectsthe two distanced economies
it appropriatesideologicalsignsinto
througha specificarticulation:
boasts.Withinitssensibility,
affective
is locatedwithinthe
everything
the
differential
of
investment
of
maps
energy.The postmodern
and
to
a
reducesreality ideology
whetherand how
questionofaffect:
particularideological elementsmatteris not determinedby their
meaningsbut byhow theycan be incorporatedintoparticularmatstructures.Consequently,affectis
teringmaps, particularaffective
stitchedintorealitywithoutthe mediationof ideology,althoughthe
theraw mateideologicalsurfacesalwaysprovidethesitesof reality,
or
rialforitsaffective
its
of
what
matters.In ideoeconomies,
maps
logical terms,it no longer matterswhat matters,but in affective
terms,it is the onlythingthatmatters;it is the onlypossible differ-

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182 LawrenceGrossberg
ence. The postmodernbecomes the paradoxicalstrategyby which
we livean impossiblerelationto thefuture.For example,byshifting
theterrorof theabsence of the
fromthe ideologicalto theaffective,
future(forwhichone mustseek an ideologicalanswerthatis simply
intothe impossibility
or irrelevanceof
not available) is transformed
that
make
sense
could
of
the
it is
framework
absence.
Similarly,
any
the everydaynessof the apocalypsethatis boring and banal. Postmodern celebrationsof violence and destructionare predicated
a meaninglessnessthatfreesthemto be
upon theirmeaninglessness,
relocatedand identified
affectively.

to Pop-modernism
FromPost-modernism
and practicallymarkthe
In 1967,one eventseemed to symbolically
if
a
not
of
self-consciousformanational,
international,
emergence

Theeventwas thereleaseoftheBeatles'Sgt.
tionofyouthculture.
Hearts
ClubBand. LangdonWinnerdescribedthe
PeppersLonely
has
release
as "theclosestWestern
Civilization
its
weekfollowing
ofViennain 1815,"andtheusually
sincetheCongress
cometounity
citeshisobservation
that"fora
morecynicalGreilMarcusgleefully
oftheWestwas
consciousness
whiletheirreparably
brief
fragmented
rock
Sevenyearslater,
at leastinthemindsoftheyoung."23
unified,
in
which
he
a
concert
attended
Bruce
Landau
critic
Springsteen
Jon
became
and
in
his
vision
and
roll
"the
rock
saw
1976,
future,"
reality.
NineteenyearsafterSgt.Peppermarkedthe releaseof another
of
albumthat,in manyways,seemsto haveunifiedthepopulation
Live.Buteverything
haschanged:the
youthagain:BruceSpringsteen
themeansbywhich
theformofitstemporary
unity,
bodyofyouth,
of
and thepoliticalimport
has beenaccomplished,
thatunification
be
cannot
success
themoment.
explainedawaysimply
Springsteen's
andperaccompanied
"hype"thathasobviously
bythecommercial
After
his
to
rise
stardom.
orchestrated
all,the
haps,to someextent,
alsohypedandsupported
Beatles-andSgt.Pepper--were
bylarge
Nor can the difference
betweenthe two
campaigns.
advertising
ofa politto theexistence
be explainedawaybypointing
moments
inthesixtiesanditsabsenceintheeightofyouth
icizedcommunity
formofthatabsenceand itsrelationto
ies. Forit is theparticular
Onlyby acknowlSpringsteen'ssuccess thatneed to be interpreted.

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thePop BackintoPostmodernism183
Putting
and our own ambiguity
even ifin retrospect,
edgingitspredictability,
in the face of it,can we begin to come to termswithit.To quote
Winneragain,"The whole of his musicalpersona is hauntedby an
unsettlingsense of dejfj vu. Rock and roll heroes of the 1950s
appeared wherewe least expected them.... Springsteenappeared
exactlywherehe was expected."24
How do we accountforSpringsteen'spopularityand the specific
formsithas taken?How do we understanditspoliticalpossibilities?
Obviously,an adequate responsewould requirea complex,multidimensionalanalysisthatwould locate Springsteenin a varietyof hishis relationto rockand roll,to otherformsof poptoricalregisters:
social
ularculture,and to historicaleventsand his appeal to different
forth.
and
so
We
a
with
number
of
rather
obvifractions,
mightbegin
been
neither
success has
ous observations.First,Springsteen's
gradto know preciselyhow to
ual nor sudden; in fact,it is difficult
describe its qualitativetrajectory.
Second, thereis a wide range of
amongcriticsas well as fans,of bothhis musicand
interpretations,
his success.Third,hisaudience'isextraordinarily
heterogeneous.His
and
adulthood
seem
not
of
to
youth
impose anylimitson its
images
His
audience.
of
images working-class
experienceand aspipotential
rationsare somehowable to speak to middle-classadolescents.His
male expressionsof lonelinessand sexual desireare somehowable
to speak to women acrossa wide rangeof ages and classes.Andhis
Americanist
imageryis capable of strikingresponsivechordsacross
not onlypoliticalbutnationalboundariesas well.
Althoughcriticsoftentryto read hissongsas iftheycommunicated
somethingabout the shared experiences and beliefsof his audiences, itis obvious--one need onlyattendhis concerts,speak to his
fans,or attendto thewaystheylistento and punctuatetheirsinging
along withparticularsongs-that the power of his songs depends
upon concreteimages,and images of Springsteenas well, and is
as MarshallBermanwrites,"It is extraordinary
affective:
how Bruce
Springsteenhas worked his way into so manypeople's lives. Ask
themto thinkoftheirpeak experiencesover thepastdecade: alongside intimate
privatemomentswiththeirlovers,spouses,and kids,in
deepest privacy,they'llremember moments in immense public
spaces withBruce and 20,000others.And the factthatthefeelingis
shared and multiplied--indeed promoted and orchestrateddoesn't diminishthe ecstasy and communion. I remember my

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184 Lawrence Grossberg

with
moment... I had to see thepeople aroundme,and see myself,
new eyes. I feltat thatmomentthatI would trustthisman withmy
power is oftennoted, its
life.""'Althoughthisenormousaffective
embraced.
are
implications rarely
withSpringHow do we understandthispassionateidentification
steen and his music?Whatis itsrelationto his currentlevel of pophave
and theformofthatpassionateinvestment
ifthestrength
ularity,
always defined his relationsto his fans? If his currentsuccess
we need to ask whythat
different,
depends upon somethingentirely
structurehas suddenlybecome widelyavailable,or conaffective
versely,whyit has suddenlybeen appropriatedby a widelyheterogeneous audience.The answer,I believe,depends upon two significant developmentswithinhis musicalpresence.The firstis rather
made themso
ofthesongsthatinitially
simple:ifitwas theaffectivity
focusedupon
have
albums
his
recent
explicitly
powerfulforhis fans,
and contradictions
of postmodernstructures
theparticularaffective
especiallysince TheRiver,singsabout thecontradicity.Springsteen,
tionbetweenfaithor dreamsand reality.
songsare billSpringsteen's
boards of being trappedsimultaneouslyinside one's own dreams
He singsabout the necessityand
and inside someone else's reality.
ofmeaning;he celebratestheveryprisonsthatsuch
theimpossibility
meaningsprepareforus ("GloryDays,""GrowingUp," and so on).
announcesthathe wantsitall, and even ifhe
Springsteenconstantly
is willingto pay theprice,he doesn'tquite knowwhat"all" is.
a specontradiction
The contextofrockand rollgivesthisaffective
cificformand his musica specificpower.I haveelsewheredescribed
of
rock and roll as markingthe historically
emergentindifference
terrorand boredom.26Thisdescribesthedominantaffective
experience of youthin postwarAmerica.Not only have these two poles
become pervasivein everydaylife,buttheyhave lostanyhistorically
constructedguaranteesofwheretheyare to be located,of how they
are connectedto specificevents.Similarly,
theyhave lost anyhistoricallyconstructedpositionin an economy of meaning thatcould
existenceis
The resultis thatour affective
definetheirdifference.
the
between
the
of
difference
the
defined
collapse
by
increasingly
extremismof terrorand thenullityof boredom,betweenthe terror
betweenthe uncontrollabilof boredom and theboredomofterror,
of
There
its
absence.
and
affect
of
course,a varietyofwaysin
are,
ity
whichthispositioncould be remarkedand respondedto: forexam-

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thePop BackintoPostmodernism185
Putting
ple, one could choose to empowerterrorwithoutreservation(with
or withoutactualrisk)and,hence,constantly
seek to live lifeon the
rockand roll appropriatesthe
Alternatively,
edge, as uncontrollable.
of the social positionof youthand concondoned irresponsibility
structsan economyoffun.Rockand rollempowersitsfanssimplyby
not onlytheverycelebrationof fun,butalso theparticprivileging,
ular formsof funappropriatedby particulargroupsof fans.It constructsmaps thatmarkthe sitesof investment
fromthevariousbillboards of its own culturalsurfaces--music,dance, style,language,
theverysignsof itsaffective
contrasex, and so forth.It transforms
dictionintothebillboardsof itsaffective
vio(noise,
empowerment
and so on).
lence, repetition,
But this has always been visible in Springsteen'smusic and
a
accounts,in part,forthe success of Born to Run. More recently,
structurehas emerged in his
second--historically
older--affective
ofsubjectification
music:theindifference
and commodification.
This
does notmeanthatthereis no difference
contradiction
betweensubbutrather,
and commodity,
thattheyno longerseem to bear
jectivity
any relationto each other as demands upon our own identities;
insteadtheyslide pastand acrossone another.We are forcedto live
in both,unableto positionthemwithina largercontextthatplaces us
In the end, theirdifferencedoesn't matter.
withintheirdifference.
Thatis,accordingto Benjamin,theconditionofthemasses:a failure
to livewhatFoucaulthas called the"epistemologicaldoublet."27The
lifeis simultaneously
resultis thateveryday
constituted
as unpredictable and totallypredictable,uncontrollableand totallycontrolled,
fullof meaningand meaningless.I have argued elsewherethatthis
is increasingly
affective
structure
dominantin postmodernappropriationsof televisualculture.28Thus,itmakessense thatSpringsteen's
success has arisen at the momentwhen, in fact,there is a broad
attemptto articulaterock and roll to televisualforms--whether
throughmusic videos (which have obviouslycontributedsignificantlyto Springsteen'spopularity),the increasinguse of popular
music on televisionseries,various lip-synching
programs,the currentMonkees revival,and so on. In thiscontext,it is important
to
note thatSpringsteenhas successfullyused a wide range of video
styles.
abilityto offera responseto thisparticularaffective
Springsteen's
contradictionsuggeststhree additionalfeaturesof his popularity:

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186 LawrenceGrossberg

it is his own image as a rock-and-roll

so powerfully
first,
performer,
his
that
seems
to
offer
some
fans,
way out of the
appropriatedby
dilemmashis songs propose. Second, thisimage is thatof an ordiofhisfamous
naryperson,exactlylikeus. (This is in partthefunction
stories,his rathernondescriptrock-and-roll
styleof dress,and the
withhis fans.)Andfinally,
his imageof
legendsabouthis interactions
is
this
is
his
(and
"authenticity"
widely recognizedby
fans) conWe
artificial.
know
that
the
of
each
structed,
show,each
"spontaneity"
an
each
is
but
it
is
an
that
illusion
illusion,
story
gesture,
manyfans
like to see repeatedlyperformed.This is, in fact,precisely the
ofwhatone can call
empoweringformoftelevision:theconstruction
the "mundane exotic." Springsteensimultaneouslycelebrates his
fans'ordinarinessand assertstheirfantastic
(even ifphantasmic)difference.The ordinarybecomes extraordinary.
Springsteenempowwithinthemainstream,
ers the fans'identity
givingtheman identity
or in theartificiality
ofa temporarily
in theirverylackofa difference,
lives. This becomes more
constructeddifferencein theiraffective
thantheirsocial differences
and experireal,and more important,
one
anotherwithinthepostmod=
ences. Realityand imageslide into
ern sensibility.Springsteenhas literallyfound a way to redefine
onto the televisionscreen. And this may explain his
authenticity
abilityto appear before audiences of one hundred
extraordinary
thousandpeople withoutlosing the power of his presence or his
with,and his controlof,the audience.
relationship
success is,
In conclusion,then,I am suggestingthatSpringsteen's
at least in part,the resultof his abilityto successfully
operate in the
have
differentiated
that
economies
become
the
two affective
- and espedomainsofrockand television.In fact,thetwostructures
Rock
ciallythe empoweringresponsesto them--arecontradictory.
and roll's economyof funis elitistand totalizing;it works by the
It constructsa varietyof configuimageddemarcationof difference.
rationsofbillboards,each ofwhichservesonlyto constructan imagan identity,
between
withoutnecessarilypostulating
inarydifference,
The
affective
those
and
outside.
those withinits spaces
remaining
economy of televisionis democraticand always incomplete,and
This distinctioncan be
assertionof identity.
worksby the imaginary
seen notonlyin thesocial practiceswithinwhicheach is consumed
but also in the sources and formsof pleasure thateach generates.
The rockeconomymarksa boundaryaroundthefan,a boundaryof

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thePop BackintoPostmodernism187
Putting
ofthemusicand consequently
privilegedaccess to theappropriation
fans are elitist:theyare the only ones who
to fun. Rock-and-roll
understandwhat constitutesrock and roll. And,in the momentof
fun,thereis the affective
experienceof "havingit all," even ifonly
On theotherhand,televisionempowersitsfansbyceltemporarily.
ebratingtheordinarinessoftheexoticand theexoticismoftheordibecomes an imageto be
equal. Everything
nary;itmakeseverything
onto
the
screen.
at
of these
Operating the intersection
appropriated
two economies,Springsteenis both celebratingidentityand differWhetherSpringsteen
ence, democraticequalityand elitisthierarchy.
willbe able to maintainthisprecariousposition,or whethertheposition itselfwill be generalized and become more widelyavailable,
will determinehis continuedpopularity.
But the significanceof his
- depends upon thevery
the
and
future
popularity--in past,present,

ofconstructing
affective
thatorganizethevarious
systems
possibility
ofpostmodern
contradictions
existence.
Theseare thecultural
and
conditions
historical
within
conditions,
"notof our own making,"
we muststruggle
tofindnewideologicalandpolitwhich,as critics,
icalpositions.
NOTES
ofSartre's
1. Forexample:
justbecauseit'sanemblematic
expression
'Television,
in electronic
is also a perfect
modeloftheprocessedworldof
form,
'serialculture'
Andwhynot?TVexists,
infact,
in
postmodern
justat thatrupture-point
technology.
thedeclineofthenow-passe
between
humanhistory
andtheupsurge
ageofsociology
ofthenewworldofcommunications
theeclipseofnormalized
(justbetween
society
ofradicalsemiurgy
andtheemergence
as thelanguage
ofthe'structural'
TV
society).

is at the border-lineof a greatparadigm-shift

betweenthe 'death of society'(modernismwithitsrepresentational
ofan empty,
culture'
logic) and the'triumph
signifying
(the 'structural
paradigm'of postmodernism).In the Real World of television..."
ArthurKrokerand David Cook, The PostmodernScene: ExcrementalCultureand
(New York:St.Martin'sPress,1986), 272.
Hyper-Aesthetics
2. Despite Tania Modleski'seffortsin her introduction
to Studies in Entertainment:CriticalApproachesto Mass Culture,ed. TaniaModleski(Bloomington:Universityof IndianaPress,1986) to constructsuch notionsof empowermentas noncontradictorycelebrationsofthepopular,recentworkin culturalstudies,includingmyown,
is clearlyintendedto argue thatcriticsmustavoid reducingthe politicsof popular
culturalpracticesto anysingledimensionor measure.Empowermentneed notdeny
ofdisempowerment,
or offormsofempowermentthatare oppressive.
the possibility
It does, however,registerthe factthatpeople mustfindsomethingpositivein the

thattheycelebrate.
ofpopularculture
forms
Abrilliant
is
exampleofsuchan analysis
forthe1980s,"Feminist
JaniceWinship,
Magazines
"'A girlneedstogetstreetwise':
21 (1985),25-46.Shewrites:
Review

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188 Lawrence Grossberg

It is timethatas feminists
we thoughtcarefully
about the politicalimplications
of . . . an image [that]too easilyproducesa knee-jerkresponse in feminists
...
the imagemayresembleclassic porno pics,the
althoughsuperficially
of genderis beingactivelytamperedwith.
representations
Whatwe also need to bear in mindis thatforthe 1980s New YoungWomen
(middle-class,educatedyoungwomen) thatimagesimplydoes not and cannot
mean the same thingas similarimagesdid fiveto tenyearsago forus "older"
feminists... it is partlybecause,howeverindirectly,
feminismhas giventhese
to act in the world whichalso
youngwomen a knowledgeand a strength
allows themto laugh at and enjoythose imagesin a way manyof us could
not,and cannot.The questionnow is, are we strongenough to acknowledge
thatour politicshave to shiftin orderto takeaccountof these changes?(pp.

45-46)

3. See, forexample,Iain Chambers,Popular Culture:The MetropolitanExperience (London: Methuen,1986).

4. AntonioGramsci,Selectionsfrom thePrisonNotebooks,trans.QuintinHoare
and GeoffreyNowell Smith(New York:InternationalPublishers,1971), 331. For a
on thequestionsof postmodernism,
see the
perspectives
rangeof Marxist-Gramscian
inteviewwithStuartHall, and the responsesby LawrenceGrossberg,Dick Hebdige,
Iain Chambers,JohnFiskeand JonWatts,and AngelaMcRobbiein the special issue,
devoted to the work on StuartHall, of Journal of CommunicationInquiry 10
(Summer 1986).
5. For example,Todd Gitlinassumesnotonlythatthe "recombinant"formof televisualtextsare obviousbutthatitis equallyobvious thatthisis nothingbuta signof
culturalexhaustion.Thus,he effectively
merelyrecreatesone of the positionsof the
mass-culturedebates. Todd Gitlin,Inside Prime Time (New York,Pantheon,1983),
especiallychap. 5.
who is oftenpositionedas a leading"postmodern
6. Consequently,
FdlixGuattari,
in "The PostmodernDead End,"FlashArt,
can attackpostmodernism
no. 128
theorist,"
(1986), 40-41.
7. Jean Baudrillard,For a Critiqueof thePolitical Economy of the Sign, trans.
Charles Levin (St. Louis: Telos Press,1981) and Simulations,trans.Paul Foss, Paul
Patton,and PhilipBeitchman(New York:Semiotext(e),1983).
8. See Hal Foster,ed. The Anti-Aesthetic:
Essays on PostmodernCulture (Port
Modernism:Rethinking
Townsend,Wash.:Bay Press,1983); BrianWillis,ed. ArtAfter
(New York:The New Museumof Contemporary
Art,1984); Hal Foster,
Representation
Recodings:Art,Spectacle,CulturalPolitics(Port Townsend,Wash.:Bay Press,1985);
RosalindE. Krauss,The Originality
of theAvant-Gardeand OtherModernistMyths
(Cambridge,Mass.:M.I.T Press,1985); and AndreasHuyssen,AftertheGreatDitide:
Modernism,Mass Culture,Postmodernism
Press,
(Bloomington:Indiana University
1986).
A Preface,"in Foster,TheAnti-Aesthetic,
xi-xii.
9. Hal Foster,"Postmodernism:
or the CulturalLogic of Late Capitalism,"
10. FredricJameson,"Postmodernism,
New LeftReview,no. 146 (1984), 53-92;and AndersStephanson,"AnInterviewwith
no. 131 (1986-87),69-73.
FredricJameson,"FlashArt,
in MarxistCriticism,"
"The Place ofAesthetics
in Marxismand
11. MicheleBarrett,
theInterpretation
of Culture,ed. CaryNelsonand LawrenceGrossberg(Urbana:Universityof IllinoisPress,1988).

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Puttingthe Pop Back into Postmodernism 189

12. See Baudrillard,
Simulations,andJeanBaudrillard,In theShadow of theSilent
Majorities. . . or TheEnd of theSocial and otherEssays,trans.Paul Foss,Paul Patton,
and JohnJohnston
(New York:Semiotext(e),1983).
"On Nihilism,"On theBeach, n.d.
13. JeanBaudrillard,
14. JeanBaudrillard,
no. 130 (1986).
"Interview,"
FlashArt,
SelectedInterviews& OtherWritings
15. See MichelFoucault,Power/Knowledge:
1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon(New York:Pantheon,1980); Gilles Deleuze and Fdlix
Guattari,Anti-Oedipus:Capitalismand Schizophrenia,trans.RobertHurley,Mark
of MinnesotaPress,1983). For an
Seem, and Helen R. Lane (Minneapolis:University
and usefulappropriation
of these ideas fora reconsideration
of feminism
interesting
see Donna Haraway,"AManifestoforCyborgs:Science,Techin a postmoderncontext,
nology,and SocialistFeminismin the 1980s,"SocialistReview,no. 80 (1985), 65-107.
16. GayatriChakravorty
Spivak,"Can the SubalternSpeak," in Nelson and Grossberg,eds.,Marxismand theInterpretation
of Culture,697-713.
A Social Critiqueof theJudgementof Taste,trans.
17. PierreBourdieu,Distinction:
RichardNice (Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversity
Press,1984).
18. Ibid.,3.
19. Ibid.,4.
20. Thisruptureis,I believe,theoverdetermined
productofa numberofhistorical
eventsin thepostwaryears,eventsthatseriouslychallengedour abilityto makesense
of our feelingsabout theworld,ourselves,normalcy,
and the future(e.g., the incorporationof apocalypticimagesintothe mass media and popular culture).Whilehisstructure
ofaffective
thereseemed to
toryseemed to demanda different
investments,
be no wayofmakingsense oftheemergingrelations.Whatresultedwas a crisisin the
relationshipbetweencommonsense and faith.This is not to suggestthattherewas a
historicalmomentin whichtherewas a perfectcorrespondencebetweenthembut
difference
in how thesetwoeconomiesare and can be
simplythatthereis a historical
articulatedto each other.The changeis quantitative
and partial,but itseffects
are real
visible.
and increasingly
21. PatAufderheide,
SayNo,"In TheseTimes,11 (19-25Novem"Sid and Nancy:Just
ber 1986), 14.
22. PeterSchjeldahl,"Ironyand Agony,"
In TheseTimes,10 (20 August-2
September,
1986).
23. Citedin GreilMarcus,"The Beatles,"in TheRollingStoneIllustratedHistoryof
Rockand Roll,ed. JimMiller(New York,RandomHouse, 1980), 183.
24. LangdonWinner,"BruceSpringsteen,"
in Miller,HistoryofRockand Roll,466.
25. MarshallBerman,"Bruce Springsteen:Blowin'AwaytheLies,"VillageVoice,9
December 1986,87.
26. LawrenceGrossberg,
atall': Rockand
" 'I'd ratherfeelbad thannotfeelanything
Roll,Pleasureand Power,"Enclitic8 (1984), 94-111;and "Rockand Rollin Searchofan
Audienceor,TakingFun(Too?) Seriously,"in Popular Music and Human Communication: Social and CulturalPerspectives,
ed. JamesLull (BeverlyHills: Sage, 1987),
175-97.
27. WalterBenjamin,"The WorkofArtin theAge of MechanicalReproduction,"
in
Illuminations,ed. Hannah Arendt(New York: Harcourt,Brace and World,1986);
MichelFoucault,TheOrderof Things:An Archaeologyof theHuman Sciences(New
York:Pantheon,1970).

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190

Lawrence Grossberg

ofTelevisionor,MappingTVs Popular
28. LawrenceGrossberg,"The In-difference
Economy,"Screen,28-2(Spring1987),28-45.

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