Pangaea II – The Project of the Global Age

What is the difference between a model and a metanarrative? This is not the opening line of a humorist but a serious question. According to some, a metanarrative is “a story about a story, encompassing and explaining other ‘little stories’ within conceptual models that make the stories into a whole.”[1] If this explanation is correct then there is no difference between a model and a metanarrative. However, postmodern thinking about metanarratives can also hold that “a metanarrative is an untold story that unifies and totalizes the world, and justifies a culture’s power structure.”[2] If this were true then there would be a big difference. A model that is designed to test a hypothesis and a story that is meant to affirm the sociopolitical status quo are very different things.