“We fit into this landscape.”

Values and Value Systems in the Postmodern Age

Abstract

The fundamental changes brought about by postmodernity have made a profound impact not only on life-style and self-expression but also on the foundations of knowledge. The status of knowledge has changed by gradually shifting from the unifying power of metanarratives to a diversity of personal interpretations. As a result, faith in objective truth has been overthrown by subjectivities and the traditional perception of culture has come under criticism. Instead of a general way of reading, the subjective approach constitutes the decisive factor in interpretation. Value systems are also affected by the changes. Value systems are no longer cast from a single mold, but rather derive from a dynamically changing framework that is shaped by the diversity of the sociocultural situation, the central role of the subject’s interpretation and the positioned meaning of values. This paper will address the impact of postmodernity on values and value systems through the exploration of the inner happenings of a community garden in Budapest. While trying to analyze the components of value systems, I define so-called correlations in the hope of realizing a more relevant understanding of the postmodern age.