The Shortcomings of Meta-narratives

One of the more interesting ways in which postmodernism uses the idea of privileging is in the discussion (and rejection) of meta-narratives. James Berlin discusses the shortcomings (from a postmodern perspective) of such meta-narratives. Berlin notes that Jean-Françoise Lyotard "renounces the totalizing discourse of such schemes as Hegelianism or Marxism or the faith in scientific progress or the invisible hand of economic law. All are declared language games that are inherently partial and interested, intended to endorse particular relations of power and to privilege certain groups in historical struggles" ("Postmodernism, Cultural Studies, and the Composition Classroom" 20). Berlin goes on to say that "Lyotard argues for a plurality of particular narratives, limited and localized accounts that attempt to explain features of experience that grand narratives exclude" (20). The reason Lyotard rejects these grand narratives of the human condition is because they privilege certain points of view. From the postmodern perspective, we should not attempt to explain language or society in such reductive terms.

Equal Ground Achieving Equality
An Introduction?