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THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE STUDY
JFL: Innovation within fashion. I believe that these kinds of distinctions must be made one at a time, and without criteria.
JLT: Yes, but how do we do it, if there is no sensus communis?
JFL: There cannot be a sensus communis.
JLT: Yet we do make judgments; there must be a sensus communis.
JFL: No, we judge without criteria. We are in the position of Aristotle’s prudent individual, who makes judgments about the just and the unjust without the least criteria (Lyotard & Thébaud, 1984, p.14).
Postmodernism
In discussing postmodernism I will also refer to its influences in South Africa. Postmodernism is not a systematic theory or comprehensive philosophy, but more a movement that developed after the period of enlightenment (from the late eighteenth to within the twentieth century). During the period of enlightenment it was thought that the world could be controlled and ordered if we could represent it correctly. It was the role of scientific endeavour to uncover that correct representation (Anderson, 1995; Chiari & Nuzzo, 2003; Kvale, 1995). Lyotard (1984, p. xxiii) uses the term modern to refer to “any science that legitimates itself with reference to a metadiscourse”. Apartheid, although not a science, had its own metadiscourse which partially developed from eugenics and scientific racism (Dubow, 1995a). Lyotard (1984, p. xxiv) defines postmodernism as “incredulity toward metanarratives”. In postmodernism, ultimate truth no longer exists and structuralism is rejected – there is no hidden structure which determines the world and which must be found (Anderson, 1995; Burr, 2003; Chiari & Nuzzo, 2003; Kvale, 1995; Lyotard, 1984; Rorty, 1980, 1989). Lyotard (1984) celebrates the cause of the “little narrative” (p. 60) which is put together on a tactical basis by small groups of individuals to achieve a particular objective. They do not pretend to have the answers to all society’s problems; ideally, they last only as long as is necessary to achieve their objectives. Lyotard considers that little narratives are the most inventive way of disseminating and creating knowledge, and that they help to break down the monopoly traditionally exercised by grand narratives. In postmodern science, Lyotard informs us, the search for paradoxes, instabilities and the unknown is important, rather than an attempt to construct yet another grand narrative that would apply over the entire scientific community. Postmodernism is described as scepticism about authority, received wisdom, cultural and political norms, and so on. That puts it into a long-running tradition in Western thought that stretches back to classical Greek philosophy. Scepticism is an essentially negative form of philosophy which sets out to undermine other philosophical theories which claim to be in possession of ultimate truth, or of criteria for determining what counts as ultimate truth. This is in agreement with anti-foundationalists (such as Nietzsche) who dispute the validity of the foundations of discourse, and ask what guarantees the truth of the foundation or starting point of those who claim to have found the ultimate truth (Sim, 2001).
Lyotard (1984) argued that knowledge was the world’s most significant commodity. Whoever controls knowledge, Lyotard claimed, has political control. In South Africa information was politicised and at times criminalised. Television was state controlled, and only became available in 1976. The numerous restrictions on the media were discussed in Chapter 2.
Lyotard (1993) refers to what he calls the “event” (p. 64). For him the event is an occurrence that dramatically alters the way we view the world, and calls all our ideological assumptions into question in the process. Auschwitz is one such event which cannot be explained away by the application of grand narrative theory. In fact, it represents the point at which grand narrative theorizing breaks down. To acknowledge that there are events which cannot be predicted or encompassed within any neat universal theory, is to acknowledge not just the limitations of grand narrative but also the essential openness of the future. A predictable future can imply that all human effort is meaningless; that it will not lead to any changes (Sim, 2001). As discussed in the previous chapter, various factors probably played a role in South Africa in terms of events that changed the way apartheid was viewed. In postmodern terms white South Africans lost faith in the ideology of apartheid and the ability of the state to enforce its authority. The grand narrative of apartheid had broken down. It was no longer possible to proclaim that apartheid was “separate but equal”.
Anderson (1995) describes postmodernism as influencing self-concept; moral and ethical discourse and so on. Social role or tradition no longer fixes our ideas of who and what we are, instead we construct our identity. Morality is not dictated by an inherited culture or religion, but develops out of dialogue and choices. Art and culture have no dominant style, and movements influence one another rapidly because of globalisation. One of the problems we are left with when we dispense with grand narratives, or central authorities of any kind, is how to construct value judgements that others will accept as just and reasonable. Lyotard and Thébaud (1984) argue that it is still possible to make value judgements, even if we have no grand narrative to back us up. The lack of absolute criteria does not imply a collapse into social disorder, as critics from the grand narrative side suggest. What Lyotard and Thébaud (1984) are espousing is anti-foundationalism; a rejection of the idea that there are foundations to our system of thought, or belief, that lie beyond question, and that are necessary to the business of making value judgements. One of the groups of theories which have developed in postmodernism is social constructionism. The questions of morality and anti-foundationalism are also important in social constructionism and I will discuss them in more detail in the next section.
Social Constructionism
Did these events take place? Do they exist? Historically, they exist. They and similar incidents also exist in the extensive discourses of victims (e.g. Améry, 1984; Arcel, 2000; Blackwell, 1993; Jempson, 1996; Langer, 2003; Levi, 1989). It is extremely difficult to find perpetrator accounts in the scholarly literature. In social constructionist terms, the perpetrators and what they have done almost do not exist; virtually no vocabulary or discourse exists. A number of researchers (Bar-On, 1989a; Baumeister, 1997; Crelinsten & Schmid, 1995; Foster et al., 2005; Haritos-Fatouros, 1995; Huggins et al., 2002) confirm how difficult it is to get stories from the perpetrators of atrocities.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Why the Personal Interest?
Brief Overview of Chapters
CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Ideology, Racism and the Legal Underpinnings of Apartheid.Africa
Changes in the South African Police Force/Service
CHAPTER 3.THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE STUDY
Postmodernism
Social Constructionism
Definitions
Basic Tenets of Social Constructionism
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH DESIGN
Research Question
Design and Method
Research Quality
CHAPTER 5 ADRIAAN: DIALOGIC ANALYSIS
Growing Up and Period Before Joining the Police
Conclusions
CHAPTER 6. CHARL: DIALOGIC ANALYSIS
The Period Before Joining the SAP
Conclusions
CHAPTER 7 DAWID: DIALOGIC ANALYSIS
The Period Before Joining the SAP.
Conclusions.
VOLUME 2
CHAPTER 8 ELAINE: THE EXPERIENCE
CHAPTER 9 THE WAY IT WAS TO TOTAL CHANGE
CHAPTER 10 MACHO MEN BECOME SISSIES BECOME FAMILY MEN
CHAPTER 11. ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS TO EVIL PERSONIFIED, SHAME AND REMORSE
CHAPTER 12 SUMMARY OF RESULTS, QUESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ARISING FROM THE RESEARCH, EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
