Connections between Modern and Postmodern art and fashion.

This paper undertakes to construe the affinities and divergences in the genres of art and fashion throughout the 20th century through the use of particular visual and theoretical examples, examined at greater length in a more extensive study of ‘The relationship between the artist and the fashion designer in the twentieth century’ (Vettese, 2005). Examination of the 20th century has revealed two particular periods – ‘Modernism’ and ‘Postmodernism’ – that were evident and fitting to this analysis. The research is a summation of these findings, where the differences and affinities in the mechanisms of 20th century art and fashion, including imposing messages and innovation in Modernism and the mixed messages, recycling and commercial aspects of Postmodernism, are disseminated.

The Rawls-Tawney theorem and the digital divide in postindustrial society.

The digital divide continues to challenge political and academic circles worldwide. A range of policy solutions is briefly evaluated, from laissez-faire on the right to “arithmetic” egalitarianism on the left. The article recasts the digital divide as a problem for the social distribution of presumptively important information (e.g., electoral data, news, science) within postindustrial society. Endorsing in general terms the left-liberal approach of differential or “geometric” egalitarianism, it seeks to invest this with greater precision, and therefore utility, by means of a possibly original synthesis of the ideas of John Rawls and R. H. Tawney. It is argued that, once certain categories of information are accorded the status of “primary goods,” their distribution must then comply with principles of justice as articulated by those major 20th century exponents of ethical social democracy. The resultant Rawls-Tawney theorem, if valid, might augment the portfolio of options for interventionist information policy in the 21st century