24 progress and its discontents
TRANSCRIPT
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Progress and its Discontents
Economic
Transformations
Understandings of
Nature and Society
The Belle Epoque
Attacks on Liberal
Civilization
Domestic Politics
Large-scale institutions
business corporations,
government agencies, political
parties, labor unions, national
associations, and newspapers
became essential to a new
society characterized by rapid
economic growth and broader
political participation
Rising standards of living,
democracy, education, and
leisure AND rampant
materialism, moral standards,
and erosion of community
Economic Transformations
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Large-scale
production with
new
technologies
emerged
The Second
Industrial
Revolution
which led to a
rise in
consumerismdepartment
stores and
merchandising
The Second Industrial
Revolution
New Technologies
A whole new industry
developed to produce and
supply electricity. Thomas
Edisons incandescent light
bulb, 1870s leading to central
power stations
The steam turbine, shown in
the 1880s to be more efficient
than the steam engine
fueled by oil as well as coal
Greater and cheaperproductions emerged in
various fields
telephone (1876); Homesewing machines
New chemical processesand synthetics led to
improved products rangingfrom dyes, textiles, andpaints to fertilizers and
explosives
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The automobile in the
1890s, the airplane in the
1900s, and the radio a
decade later were all
greeted with enthusiasm
and heightened mass
expectations that
technological progress
would continue to improve
everyday life
By 1890 Europe was
producing even more steel
than iron
Germanys
Economic Growth
Already rich in natural
resources, Germany acquiredmore raw materials as well
as factories with the
annexation of Alsace-
Lorraine
Its famous education system
produced ample numbers of
the administrators and
engineers the commercial
sector now required
German factories, being
newer than those of
Britain or France,
employed the latest and
most efficient
equipment, obtaining the
necessary capital through
a modern banking
structure
Germany becamepreeminent in new fields
such as chemicals and
electricity
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Older Industrial
Economies
By the turn of the century,
Great Britain was clearly
being surpassed in some of
the critical areas of production
by both Germany and the
United States
British plants and equipment
were oldowners hesitated
to modernize
English schooling remained
weak in technical subjects and
provided less opportunity for
social mobility
The Spread of
IndustrializationItaly, Japan, Russia,
and Sweden
industrialized
though seriously
lacked natural
resources
Industrialization no
longer depended so
directly on the
possession of critical
resources like coal
and iron ore
AgricultureThe percentage of the
population that made its livingin agriculture continued to
decline
In France, Netherlands, andSwedenagriculture continued
to play a larger role
Specialization emerged, e.g.Denmark: a highly capitalizedand profitable dairy industry
Importing grains becamecommon internationally. Themost common response was
protective tariffs
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The Long Depression
The second industrial
revolution occurred in
one of the longest and
most severe periods
of deflation in
European history.
From the 1870s to
1896, prices, interest
rates, and profits fell
Urbanization and
Demographic Change
The Demographic Transition:
Declining Rates of Mortality and
Fertility
Birthrates had begun to decline,
and it did so because mortality
rates were falling still more
rapidly
Falling mortality rates with
declining birthrates
demographic transition to
modern demographics
Lower mortality
rates reflected the
benefits of
industrial
prosperity
declining birthrates
the result of
widening use of
contraception
bourgeois valueslater marriage,
fewer births,
smaller families
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Understandings of Nature and
Society
Scientific discoveries underlay
technological innovation far more
directly than in the first industrial
revolution
Research demanded more
systematic organization and larger
and more expensive laboratories
The educated public could
understand many of the newscientific theories, and scientific
ideas were an important part of
the general discourse about
religion, progress, and ethics
The Conquests of Science
Biology: The Darwinian
Revolution
A disturbing theory of human
developmentCharles
Darwins On the Origin of Species
Alfred R. Wallaceindependently developed a
similar theory
The variety of species is
potentially infiniterejecting
the classical and Christian ideas
of immutable forms; only thosewell adapted to their
environment survived to
reproduce
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Medicine The identification of germs andgerm theory
Louis Pasteur, pasteurization,
immunology
Joseph Listergerms could be
killed by carbolic acid
Robert Koch showed that
different diseases were caused
were caused by distinct
microbes; sanitation and public
heath became systematic
sciences
Physics and Chemistry Periodic law and periodic tablewas published by Dmitry
Mendeleev in 1869, charting the
atomic weight
*Thermodynamics, the study of
the relationship between heat
and mechanical energy
became the core of 19th century
physics
Michael Faradaymagnetism,
magnetic fields induce electric
currentsallowing for the
creation of the electric generator
Social Science and
Ideas of Progress
Auguste Comte
Philosopher Auguste Comte
sought to erect a comprehensive
philosophical system that wouldencompass all human knowledge
positivism
The key to civilization is
humanitys understanding of the
worldthree historical stages
(1) theological stage
(2) metaphysical stage(3) positive stageobservation
and science culminating insociology
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Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel
He was determined to
reconcile contradictions
between science and faith,
Christianity and the state
The dialectical process
thesis, antithesis, synthesis
form the dialectic; thesynthesis becomes the new
thesis
Karl Marx
Trained in German
philosophy; marx
outlined his theory ofhistory in the
Communist Manifesto
added by Friedrich
Engels published just
before the revolutions
of 1848
1849 to 1883Das
Kapital
Marxs Theory of
History
He built a comprehensive
philosophical system inspired
by Hegel
dialectical materialism
Class conflict is the mechanism
of historical progress, and the
triumph of the proletariat willbring a new synthesis, a
classless societyin the new era
the state wold wither away
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Marxism has deeply affected
all modern thought, shaped
the policies of all sorts of
governments, and provided a
core for some of the more
powerful political
movements of the last
hundred years
*Social Darwinisma theory
largely propelled by Thomas
Huxley under biological
determinism
The Belle Epoque
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Thirty years or so
before 1914 has
come to be called
the Belle Epoque,
a phase evocative
of the Paris of the
1890s
The industrial
age fostered aculture of mass
consumption
The Culture of Capitalism
Mass Culture and the Business of
Entertainment
Entertainment and sport became
professions
Paid singers in pubs or cafes or
beer hallsopera, theater, and
symphony became mass
consumptions
The English Week provided
leisure time and a rise in real
wages allowed many to spend on
entertainment
Early silent motion film was
gaining in popularity
Women played a larger role
in these social settingsthey
were consumers in
department stores, spectators
in dance halls, and other
pubic areas
Their mobility worried many
conservatives
Charlie Chaplin
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A shift in sports occurred baiting
animals and battles shifted to
boxing, cricket, soccer, and rugby
Leagues were formed and matches
became important communal events
Upper-middle classes took to more
individualistic games like golf and
tennis
Athletics emphasized manly
virtues like perseverance, sacrifice
for the team, and playing by the
rules
The Rise of Mass
Media
popular novels sought a wide
audience rather than a learned
one
A majority of the adult
population was literate;
education was made universal
no longer for the wealthy alone
Wide schooling and education
was a product of
Industrialization
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Artistic Modernism
A trend toward national
styles emerged; folk
elements and distinct
traditions leading to
recognizable national
identity
Artists became social
critics, primarily issuesof politics and values
that troubled society
Divergent Schools
Naturalists claimed that
the artist, like a scientist,
should present life inobjective detail after careful
research
Determinism sought the
view that behavior was
determined by social
circumstance or blood
inheritance, was a favorite
theme in this Darwinian age
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Realistic paintersof midcentury had
turned to scenesfrom ordinary life.
Like Englandspre-Raphaelites,who took theirname from the
pious and simplerart of the earlyRenaissance
Toward a More
Subjective Art
*Impressionists broke
with this tradition toconcentrate on
capturing the effects of
light and color
Claude Monet
Vincent van Gogh