Postmodernity has been dubbed the great transformation in society and culture, yet in this book Keith Tester casts a cautious eye on such grandiose claims. Drawing on a range of themes and stories from European sociology and literature, Tester shows how many of the great statements about postmodernityare misleading. Tester argues that "postmodernity" is not so much the harbinger of new world expression as it is a parasite of modernity, feeding off its predecessor's unresolved paradoxes and possibilities.

This book provides a wealth of sources which are usually denigrated or ignored in the debates on postmodernity. As such, it sheds light on old claims, yet never fails to acknowledge the profound insights of sociologists and other authors. The Life and Times of Postmodernity is an elaboration of the themes which Tester raised in his earlier books, The Two Sovereigns and Civil Society, both published by Routledge.