Metamodernism in psychology: New methodological strategies and changes of subjectivity

Abstract

Modern transformations are traced in the new movements of philosophy and art. The basis of modernism was the classical rationality, producing logocentrism and universal discourse. Until the 20th century human development accompanied social optimism, belief in the orderliness of the world, progress and reason. Postmodernism has abandoned the totality of discourses; revived the principle of doubt; appealed to critical reason. However, postmodernism does not capture the current changes. Metamodernism observes the transformation of our time more accurately. The article analyses a methodological strategy of metamodernism that is new for psychological science, representing the oscillation between two poles, in particular, modern and postmodern, with simultaneous use of their representations and practices. The basis of the strategy is the principle of oscillation the methodological meaning of which is concluded in mutually agreed integration while at the same time releasing from rigid epistemological traditions. Overcoming linear and one-dimensional constructions metamodernism suggests using each of them situationally, in a local context, in the specificity of the case, while making the conceptual variety a flexible and basic tool for the researcher. A metamodernistic worldview constructs new images of a person. Psychological features of metamodern are described as virtuality, interactivity, digitalism, values of self-expression, respect for everyday life, sincerity and solidarity. These features separately conceptualised by different authors are to be understood as an integral world outlook of the epoch. As a methodological strategy, the metamodernism is viewed as a spontaneous response to the challenges of the complexity, the multidimensionality and transitivity of the modern world.