Postmodernism meant the end of a uniting grand narrative and the beginning of an era of often melancholic irony. For decades now we have been wondering what follows this? For the very idea of a vision of the future appears outlawed by the postmodern predicament. Possibly metamodernism is the answer. An era which combines deep irony with earnest serenity, secularism with transcendence, and a utopian vision with the knowledge no vision will ever be the ‘right one’, writes Jules Evans.

The Listening Society is a new book by a writer called Hanzi Freinacht. He outlines a philosophy called metamodernism, which he says can be defined as an aesthetic movement, a developmental stage, and a political ideology. The political ideology - which has inspired alternative political parties in Sweden and Denmark - espouses a new politics focused on promoting not just happiness but the highest possible states of consciousness.