Modernity and post-modernity - Lesson

The big picture

Timeline overview

Pre-modern society (before industrialisation): tradition, religion, local community and inherited status strongly shape life chances.
Modernity (from the Enlightenment and industrialisation onward): capitalism, science, bureaucracy, urban life and the nation-state become more central.
Late modernity (late 20th century onward): a view that we are still in modernity, but its institutions are now more global, reflexive and shaped by risk.
Post-modernity (a rival view of the same recent period): certainty weakens, identities fragment, and media and consumption become more central to social life.

Sequence: pre-modern society -> modernity -> the contemporary world, interpreted either as late modernity or post-modernity.

Step-by-step lessons covering AQA A Level Sociology Modernity and post-modernity for A Level Sociology. Each lesson works through exam-style questions in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 format. Build a strong grasp of the core sociological perspectives (functionalism, Marxism, feminism, interactionism) early, since they underpin evaluation across every topic and exam question.

The big picture

Timeline overview

Pre-modern society (before industrialisation): tradition, religion, local community and inherited status strongly shape life chances.
Modernity (from the Enlightenment and industrialisation onward): capitalism, science, bureaucracy, urban life and the nation-state become more central.
Late modernity (late 20th century onward): a view that we are still in modernity, but its institutions are now more global, reflexive and shaped by risk.
Post-modernity (a rival view of the same recent period): certainty weakens, identities fragment, and media and consumption become more central to social life.

Sequence: pre-modern society -> modernity -> the contemporary world, interpreted either as late modernity or post-modernity.

Modernity and post-modernity Lesson

Modernity and post-modernity Lesson