Moving towards Modernity 20 th Century World History B. Bergey, 2008
Moving towards Modernity
20th Century World History
B. Bergey, 2008
The Long View
Ancient700 BCE – 500 CE
Modern1500 CE - Present
Middle Ages
Medieval
•Ancient Greece
•Ancient Rome
•Renaissance
•Scientific Revolution (late 1600s-1700s)
Modern Era defined by
Rationality & Logic
Optimism & Progress
Individualism
Rationality & Logic
Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1684
• New mathematical model of the universe, “portraying it as a materialistic world of mindless bodies coursing in regular motions according to inflexible laws of nature.”
• Scientific method: Inductive empiricism• Expanded to form new disciplines:
Social Sciences, whose focus it was to improve the society, politics and ethics.
Optimism & Progress
Optimism about change– Kant (1784) calls it the
age of enlightenment– No more fear of change;
change was progress; progress was good.
– Progress: belief that humans were advancing in a continuous process of improvement, that in a constantly improving world, the future would always be better
– Looking to the future, not to the past
Optimism & Progress
Voltaire: Humans, by nature, our good; the ills of society corrupt
Optimism & Progress
Locke: All humans have natural rights that no one can legitimately violate
Promoted and articulated the framework of democratic, just governments
Individualism
Classical Liberalism: social betterment though the liberation of individual potential.
• Believed: Individual is the basic unit of society
• Pressed for more personal freedom
Capitalism: Adam Smith
Ideal: A society of autonomous citizens in which the pursuit of rational self-interest brought about the good for all.
Individualism
The ideas of classical liberalism (social and economic individualism) and other enlightenment principles are spread throughout Europe after Napoleon.
Industrialization
Dramatically altered social patterns
• Rapid urbanization: Move from agriculture for cities• Many joined industrial working class
• Poor working conditions• Large supply of workers kept wages low• Especially women and children• Fostered violence and crime
• Opportunities for some• Created a professional, affluent middle-class, called
bourgeoisie• Greater social mobility• Some safety nets (Start of public education & Social welfare
programs)
Industrialization
Industrialization
Spurred colonization: European imperial powers seeking raw materials and markets for finished goods
Industrialization
Marxism—Alternative vision: Urged workers to overthrow the present order and shape in their interests
Industrialization
Industrialism produced “mass society”• Mass consumption of materials, entertainment,
news• Increased material conditions• Better health
“Second Coming” William Butler Yeats (1921)
Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.