詹姆遜針對以"新批評"為首的保守主義思維,用文學與社會相聯系的方法,提出了基于馬克思主義"觀察點"的后現代主義文化理論。詹姆遜的理論旨趣在于建立馬克思主義闡釋學,即一種用馬克思主義的范式來解釋歐美發達資本主義的文化和文學現象的理論。詹姆遜歸納的后現代主義文化的哲學特征主要是:深度模式的消解、歷史意識的消解、情感的消解和距離感的消解等等。詹姆遜分析后現代主義文化的哲學特征主要目的是為了提出資本主義的文化分期理論,即現實主義、現代主義和后現代主義。詹姆遜的現實主義、現代主義和后現代主義分別代表對世界和自我的不同體驗,代表資本邏輯下人們不同的生活方式。詹姆遜提出,后現代主義文化風格代表后現代主義文化邏輯,并且后現代主義文化的登場意味著現代主義的危機和衰落。

Jameson, based on the "observation point" of Marxism and by connecting literature and society, proposes the postmodernist cultural theories, so as to respond to the conservative thinking headed by "New Criticism". Jameson aims to establish a kind of Marxist hermeneutics, that is, a theory that aims to explain culture and literature phenomena existing in the developed capitalism societies. As to Jameson, the main philosophical characteristics of the postmodernism culture are: dissipation of depth mode, dissipation of historical consciousness, dissipation of emotion and dissipation of sense of distance. The purpose is to justify Jameson’s culture stage theory: realism, modernism and postmodernism. To Jameson, these three nouns refer to the proletariat’s different experiences about the world and himself and also stand for his life styles governed by capital logic. Jameson contends that the cultural style of postmodernism stands for the logic of this culture and the prevailing of postmodernism means the crisis and fall of modernism.