Modernity Essay

Thomas Sweeney

Moving towards modernity

 

Some may believe that the changes that have shaped our modern world began at the beginning of the twentieth century, when in fact  a new wave of both social and technological reform came about in 1913 at the beginning of world war one.  Because of the war new technology had to be invented and the war itself created whole new countries and a new rebellious attitude.

            One of the largest inventions at the turn of the century was the assembly line.  Until its development all machinery had to be made in a slow grueling process.  After its invention, items such as cars could be made much quicker making items such as cars cheaper.  Technological advances such as this led to goods being much cheaper and led to a heightening of the middle class.  This was viewed in many ways; some thought that the invention of new technology would help society.  One prime example of optimism at the beginning of the twentieth century was Jean Antoine Nicholas De Condorcet , she believed that humanity could only better itself and that modernity was in fact a good thing for the world.  This was an attitude that would mostly be common in wealthier households that were benefiting from industrial changes.  However, not everyone was satisfied with the changes that the world was undergoing.  Ghandi, a renowned spiritual leader as well as political leader said:

            “Women, who should be the queens of households, wander in the street or slave away in factories.” 

This quote shows what Ghandi perceived to be the devastation that was brought on by modernity.  Ghandi later went on to say that India was there for a ingenious civilization, due to the way that it has kept its ancient ways.  He even said;

“…then India, as so many writers have shown has nothing to learn from anybody else.”

Directly related to technological reforms were the social reforms that took place around the beginning of world war one and during world war two.  Such enormous wars lead to radical development both for the good as well as for the bad.  For example during world war two and the ensuing months after fifteen countries plunged into dictatorship.  From all these changes came a new radical way of thinking, women began to demand equal rights and wages, entrepreneurship became respected and a battle between capitalist and communist ideals began.  There for it is important to understand how the general public viewed these changes and in what ways they responded.  Social equality became the emphasis of political change.  In a combinative essay titled A Declaration Of Beliefs By The New Youth, communist young adults declared that they wished to:

“Promote social progress, we have to destroy prejudices camouflaged as law of heaven and earth or eternal practices of all types.”

These same ideals held true for capitalism and although the two economic philosophies were almost completely opposite they still held the same idea at hand. 

Wether the changes that occurred in the twentieth century were beneficial or not,  needless to say they have been some of the most important changes for our daily lives.  But I believe it was Whalt Whitman who summed up the nations views at the time in his poem years of the modern when he referred to the new century as the unperformed, showing us that no one could have known what changes might have come about.

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