theories that postulated in the 1970s an impending ‘legitimation crisis’ of ‘late capitalism’

The term "late," used here in reference to both capitalism and postmodernism, has the same meaning in both cases, and refers to the point in the development of a sociopolitical or artistic system at which it is hegemonic and tending toward decadence, but has not reached the point of breakdown. "Late capitalism" refers to Jameson' conception of the phenomenon as increasingly bureacratic and internationalist, with a slight emphasis on the resonances of limitedness and morbidity associated with the term "late".