Using Trump to Help Explore Postmodernism

It is not just the New Right perspective that can help explain some of the reasons for Donald Trump’s rise to power, postmodernism can too.

Some of the key concepts of postmodernism include that there is no objective truth and they also believe that we should reject the ‘big stories’ or meta-narratives from the modern era that attempt to explain society using broad brushstrokes; such as Marxism and Functionalism. According to postmodernists, by rejecting these theories, we are more likely to see society for the way it really is – confusing, risky and filled with potentially limitless choice.

As this recent BBC Newsnight video expertly summarises (using images that conjure a dystopian future) how Trump and Vladimir Putin’s “disdain for objective facts” could be the reason why they are popular for certain groups in society, as they capitalise on the uncertainty of our highly complex, globalised world. They present an image (Trump in particular) of a ‘different choice’ from the existing norms and values of previous governments and political establishments.