ABSTRACT
Why do we need the concept of ‘postmodernity’? On the face of it, this concept is redundant. In so far as it purports to capture and articulate what is novel at the present stage of western history, it legitimizes itself in terms of a job which has been already performed by other, better established concepts-like those of the ‘post-capitalist’ or ‘post-industrial’ society. Concepts which have served the purpose well: they sharpened our attention to what is new and discontinuous, and offered a reference point for counterarguments in favour of continuity.
