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107-398: (Redirected from Modern Man ) Modern man may refer to: Modernity , recent history and society, especially: The modern individual or everyman The contemporary human condition Anatomically modern humans , Homo sapiens of the last 200,000 years Books and magazines [ edit ] Modern Man (magazine) ,

214-474: A pandemic . Ultimately, World War I created a decisive break with the old world order that had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars, which was modified by the mid-19th century's nationalistic revolutions. The results of World War I would be important factors in the development of World War II approximately 20 years later. The Interwar period was the period between the end of World War I in 1918 and

321-405: A "satisfaction" found in this mass culture. In addition, Saler observed that "different accounts of modernity may stress diverse combinations or accentuate some factors more than others...Modernity is defined less by binaries arranged in an implicit hierarchy, or by the dialectical transformation of one term into its opposite, than by unresolved contradictions and oppositions, or antinomies: modernity

428-400: A 2006 review essay, historian Michael Saler extended and substantiated this premise, noting that scholarship had revealed historical perspectives on modernity that encompassed both enchantment and disenchantment . Late Victorians, for instance, "discussed science in terms of magical influences and vital correspondences, and when vitalism began to be superseded by more mechanistic explanations in

535-661: A chronological sense in the Carolingian era . For example, a magister modernus referred to a contemporary scholar, as opposed to old authorities such as Benedict of Nursia . In its early medieval usage , the term modernus referred to authorities regarded in medieval Europe as younger than the Greco-Roman scholars of Classical antiquity and/or the Church Fathers of the Christian era, but not necessarily to

642-661: A defunct monthly men's magazine Film [ edit ] Modern Man (film) , a 2006 experimental drama by Justin Swibel Television [ edit ] Modern Men , American television sitcom starring Eric Lively, Josh Braaten, Max Greenfield, and Jane Seymour "Modern Men" ( Only Fools and Horses ) , television episode of Only Fools and Horses Music [ edit ] Modern Man (band) Modern Man (album) , album by Stanley Clarke Modern Man (Maccabees) , album by Dissident Prophet Modern Man (Michael Peterson album) "Modern Man",

749-708: A derivation from the adverb modo ("presently, just now", also "method"), is attested from the 5th century CE, at first in the context of distinguishing the Christian era of the Later Roman Empire from the Pagan era of the Greco-Roman world . In the 6th century CE, Roman historian and statesman Cassiodorus appears to have been the first writer to use modernus ("modern") regularly to refer to his own age. The terms antiquus and modernus were used in

856-409: A discrete "term applied to the cultural condition in which the seemingly absolute necessity of innovation becomes a primary fact of life, work, and thought". And modernity in art "is more than merely the state of being modern, or the opposition between old and new". In the essay " The Painter of Modern Life " (1863), Charles Baudelaire gives a literary definition: "By modernity I mean the transitory,

963-530: A logical conclusion, lead to atheism. The Roman Catholic Church was serious enough about the threat of Modernism that it required all Roman Catholic clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors and seminary professors to swear an Oath against modernism from 1910 until this directive was rescinded in 1967, in keeping with the directives of the Second Vatican Council . Of the available conceptual definitions in sociology, modernity

1070-535: A modern phylosopher] The Biblical God...was a mere myth of bygone ages. When, with the beginning of modern times, religious belief was becoming more and more externalized as a lifeless convention, men of intellect were lifted by a new belief, their great belief in an autonomous philosophy and science. Modern era The modern period has been a period of significant development in the fields of science , politics , warfare , and technology . It has also been an Age of Discovery and globalization . During this time,

1177-726: A mutual defense agreement, the Tripartite Pact , and were known as the Axis Powers . Nine months later, on June 22, 1941, Germany launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, which prompted it to join the Allies. Germany was now engaged in fighting a war on two fronts. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor , bringing it too into the war on the side of the Allies. China also joined

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1284-472: A name of a particular era in the past, as opposed to meaning "the current era".) Depending on the field, modernity may refer to different time periods or qualities. In historiography, the 16th to 18th centuries are usually described as early modern , while the long 19th century corresponds to modern history proper. While it includes a wide range of interrelated historical processes and cultural phenomena (from fashion to modern warfare ), it can also refer to

1391-438: A new methodological approach. It was an experimental based approach to science, which sought no knowledge of formal or final causes . Yet, he was no materialist. He also talked of the two books of God, God's Word (Scripture) and God's work (nature). But he also added a theme that science should seek to control nature for the sake of humanity, and not seek to understand it just for the sake of understanding. In both these things he

1498-490: A new way of perceiving the world. The concept of modernity interprets the general meaning of these events and seeks explanations for major developments. Historians analyze the events taking place in Modern Times, since the so-called " Middle Ages " (between Modern and Ancient Times ). The " Baroque " is a term usually applied to the history of art, architecture and music during this period. Historians sometimes define

1605-631: A nineteenth century historical era stretching from 1815 (the Congress of Vienna) to 1914 (the outbreak of the First World War ); alternatively, Eric Hobsbawm defined the " long nineteenth century " as spanning the years 1789 to 1914. During this century, the Spanish , Portuguese , and Ottoman Empires began to crumble and the Holy Roman and Mughal Empires ceased. The Napoleonic era

1712-414: A proponent of experimentation, provided the archetypal example of how both Cartesian mathematics, geometry and theoretical deduction on the one hand, and Baconian experimental observation and induction on the other hand, together could lead to great advances in the practical understanding of regularities in nature . One common conception of modernity is the condition of Western history since

1819-475: A song by Bad Religion from the album Against the Grain "Modern Man", a song by Black Flag from the album Loose Nut "Modern Man", a song by Arcade Fire from the album The Suburbs "Modern Man", a song by Ivan and Alyosha from the album It's All Just Pretend See also [ edit ] Modern (disambiguation) Modern World (disambiguation) " Modern Woman ", song by Billy Joel from

1926-705: A successful slave revolt in Haiti , Britain forced the Barbary pirates to halt their practice of kidnapping and enslaving Europeans, banned slavery throughout its domain in 1833, and charged its navy with ending the global slave trade. Slavery was then abolished in Russia in 1861, by the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States in 1863, and in Brazil in 1888. (see Abolitionism ). Following

2033-624: A thesis that mass culture, while generating sources for "enchantment", more commonly produced "simulations" of "enchantments" and "disenchantments" for consumers. The era of modernity is characterised socially by industrialisation and the division of labour, and philosophically by "the loss of certainty , and the realization that certainty can never be established, once and for all". With new social and philosophical conditions arose fundamental new challenges. Various 19th-century intellectuals, from Auguste Comte to Karl Marx to Sigmund Freud , attempted to offer scientific and/or political ideologies in

2140-563: A threat, it was causing anti-Western and anti-American feelings in parts of the world, especially in the Middle East . English was quickly becoming the global language, with people who did not speak it becoming increasingly disadvantaged. Terrorism , dictatorship , and the spread of nuclear weapons were also issues requiring immediate attention. Dictators such as Kim Jong-il in North Korea continued to lead their nations toward

2247-474: A value to war and political violence, his lasting influence has been "tamed" so that useful conflict was deliberately converted as much as possible to formalized political struggles and the economic "conflict" encouraged between free, private enterprises. Starting with Thomas Hobbes , attempts were made to use the methods of the new modern physical sciences, as proposed by Bacon and Descartes , applied to humanity and politics. Notable attempts to improve upon

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2354-489: Is "marked and defined by an obsession with ' evidence '," visual culture , and personal visibility. Generally, the large-scale social integration constituting modernity, involves the: But there does seem to be a necessary conflict between modern thought and the Biblical belief in revelation. All claims of revelation, modern science and philosophy seem agreed, must be repudiated, as mere relics of superstitious ages. ... [to

2461-480: Is Janus-faced." In 2020, Jason Crawford critiqued this recent historiography on enchantment and modernity. The historical evidence of "enchantments" for these studies, particularly in mass and print cultures, "might offer some solace to the citizens of a disenchanted world, but they don't really change the condition of that world." These "enchantments" offered a "troubled kind of unreality" increasingly separate from modernity. Per Osterrgard and James Fitchett advanced

2568-935: Is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as the fourth stage of the French Revolution , the first being the National Assembly , the second being the Legislative Assembly , and the third being the Directory . The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon's coup d'état , overthrowing the Directory and ends at the Hundred Days and his defeat at Waterloo ( November 9 1799 – June 28 1815 ). The Congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days. The Industrial Revolution

2675-419: Is a society—more technically, a complex of institutions—which, unlike any preceding culture, lives in the future, rather than the past. Other writers have criticized such definitions as just being a listing of factors. They argue that modernity, contingently understood as marked by an ontological formation in dominance, needs to be defined much more fundamentally in terms of different ways of being. The modern

2782-714: Is an approximate starting period for the modern era because many major events caused the Western world to change around that time: from the fall of Constantinople (1453), Gutenberg 's moveable type printing press (1450s), completion of the Reconquista (1492) and Christopher Columbus 's voyage to the Americas (also 1492), to the Reformation begun with Martin Luther 's Ninety-five Theses (1517). The term "modern"

2889-451: Is associated with (1) a certain set of attitudes towards the world, the idea of the world as open to transformation, by human intervention; (2) a complex of economic institutions, especially industrial production and a market economy; (3) a certain range of political institutions, including the nation-state and mass democracy. Largely as a result of these characteristics, modernity is vastly more dynamic than any previous type of social order. It

2996-518: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Modernity Modernity , a topic in the humanities and social sciences , is both a historical period (the modern era ) and the ensemble of particular socio - cultural norms , attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissance —in the Age of Reason of 17th-century thought and

3103-539: Is marked by "four fundamental values": Modernity rejects anything "old" and makes "novelty ... a criterion for truth." This results in a great "phobic response to anything antiquarian." In contrast, "classical Christian consciousness" resisted "novelty". Within Roman Catholicism, Pope Pius IX and Pope Pius X claim that Modernism (in a particular definition of the Catholic Church) is a danger to

3210-399: Is periodized into three conventional phases dubbed "Early", "Classical", and "Late" by Peter Osborne: In the second phase, Berman draws upon the growth of modern technologies such as the newspaper, telegraph and other forms of mass media. There was a great shift into modernization in the name of industrial capitalism. Finally in the third phase, modernist arts and individual creativity marked

3317-455: Is thus defined by the way in which prior valences of social life ... are reconstituted through a constructivist reframing of social practices in relation to basic categories of existence common to all humans: time, space, embodiment, performance and knowledge. The word 'reconstituted' here explicitly does not mean replaced. This means that modernity overlays earlier formations of traditional and customary life without necessarily replacing them. In

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3424-675: Is to control one's own chance or fortune, and that relying upon providence actually leads to evil. Machiavelli argued, for example, that violent divisions within political communities are unavoidable, but can also be a source of strength which lawmakers and leaders should account for and even encourage in some ways. Machiavelli's recommendations were sometimes influential upon kings and princes, but eventually came to be seen as favoring free republics over monarchies. Machiavelli in turn influenced Francis Bacon , Marchamont Needham , James Harrington , John Milton , David Hume , and many others. Important modern political doctrines which stem from

3531-424: Is unnecessary for a command to be given and seen through to its effect. Consequent to debate about economic globalization , the comparative analysis of civilizations, and the post-colonial perspective of "alternative modernities", Shmuel Eisenstadt introduced the concept of "multiple modernities". Modernity as a "plural condition" is the central concept of this sociologic approach and perspective, which broadens

3638-685: The British in East Africa , and the Portuguese and Spanish at various points throughout the continent, while Leopold II of Belgium was able to retain his personal fiefdom, Congo . Electricity, steel, and petroleum fuelled a Second Industrial Revolution which enabled Germany , Japan , and the United States to become great powers that raced to create empires of their own . However, Russia and China failed to keep pace with

3745-734: The Cold War . It also saw the former British Empire lose most of its remaining political power over Commonwealth countries, most notably by the dividing of the British crown into several sovereignties by the Statute of Westminster , the patriation of constitutions by the Canada Act 1982 , and the Australia Act 1986 , as well as the independence of countries like India , Pakistan , South Africa , and Ireland . The First World War

3852-701: The Communism of Karl Marx , and the modern forms of nationalism inspired by the French Revolution , including, in one extreme, the German Nazi movement. On the other hand, the notion of modernity has been contested also due to its Euro-centric underpinnings. Postcolonial scholars have extensively critiqued the Eurocentric nature of modernity, particularly its portrayal as a linear process originating in Europe and subsequently spreading—or being imposed—on

3959-495: The European powers and later their colonies, strengthened its political, economic, and cultural colonization of the rest of the world. It also created a new modern lifestyle and has permanently changed the way people around the world live. In the 19th and early 20th century , modernist art , politics , science , and culture have come to dominate not only Western Europe and North America , but almost every area on

4066-467: The French Revolution (1789–1799), and the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804). A second phase of modernist political thinking begins with Rousseau, who questioned the natural rationality and sociality of humanity and proposed that human nature was much more malleable than had been previously thought. By this logic, what makes a good political system or a good man is completely dependent upon

4173-596: The Judeo-Christian belief in the Biblical God as a mere relic of superstitious ages. It all started with Descartes' revolutionary methodic doubt , which transformed the concept of truth in the concept of certainty, whose only guarantor is no longer God or the Church, but Man's subjective judgement. Theologians have adapted in different ways to the challenge of modernity. Liberal theology , over perhaps

4280-601: The Modern or New World . In each case, the identification of the change over time can be used to demarcate the old and old-fashioned from the modern. Starting in western countries, the modern world has seen a systematic re-evaluation of value systems , monarchical regimes, and feudal economic systems. These have often been replaced by democratic and liberal ideas in the areas of politics , science , psychology , sociology , and economics . Some events of modern history, though born out of context not entirely new, show

4387-403: The dominance of Western Europe and Anglo-America over other continents has been criticized by postcolonial theory . In the context of art history , modernity (Fr. modernité ) has a more limited sense, modern art covering the period of c.  1860–1970. Use of the term in this sense is attributed to Charles Baudelaire , who in his 1863 essay " The Painter of Modern Life ", designated

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4494-414: The "fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis", and the responsibility art has to capture that experience. In this sense, the term refers to "a particular relationship to time, one characterized by intense historical discontinuity or rupture, openness to the novelty of the future, and a heightened sensitivity to what is unique about the present". The Late Latin adjective modernus ,

4601-400: The 'end of history', of post-modernity, 'second modernity' and 'surmodernity', or otherwise to articulate the intuition of a radical change in the arrangement of human cohabitation and in social conditions under which life-politics is nowadays conducted, is the fact that the long effort to accelerate the speed of movement has presently reached its 'natural limit'. Power can move with the speed of

4708-615: The 16th and 17th centuries, Copernicus , Kepler , Galileo and others developed a new approach to physics and astronomy which changed the way people came to think about many things. Copernicus presented new models of the Solar System which no longer placed humanity's home, Earth, in the centre. Kepler used mathematics to discuss physics and described regularities of nature this way. Galileo actually made his famous proof of uniform acceleration in freefall using mathematics. Francis Bacon , especially in his Novum Organum , argued for

4815-442: The 1830s, magic still remained part of the discourse—now called 'natural magic,' to be sure, but no less 'marvelous' for being the result of determinate and predictable natural processes." Mass culture, despite its "superficialities, irrationalities, prejudices, and problems," became "a vital source of contingent and rational enchantments as well." Occultism could contribute to the conclusions reached by modern psychologists and advanced

4922-436: The 18th-century Enlightenment . Commentators variously consider the era of modernity to have ended by 1930, with World War II in 1945, or as late as the period falling between the 1980s and 1990s; the following era is often referred to as " postmodernity ". The term " contemporary history " is also used to refer to the post-1945 timeframe, without assigning it to either the modern or postmodern era. (Thus "modern" may be used as

5029-491: The Allies, as did most of the rest of the world. China was in turmoil at the time and attacked Japanese armies through guerrilla-type warfare. By the beginning of 1942, the alignment of the major combatants was as follows: the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union, and the United States were fighting Germany and Italy; China, the British Commonwealth, and the United States were fighting Japan. The United Kingdom,

5136-476: The Christian faith. Pope Pius IX compiled a Syllabus of Errors published on December 8, 1864, to describe his objections to Modernism. Pope Pius X further elaborated on the characteristics and consequences of Modernism, from his perspective, in an encyclical entitled " Pascendi dominici gregis " (Feeding the Lord's Flock) on September 8, 1907. Pascendi Dominici Gregis states that the principles of Modernism, taken to

5243-533: The Classical period of the Greco-Roman civilization. The term modernity , first coined in the 1620s, in this context assumed the implication of a historical epoch following the Renaissance, in which the achievements of antiquity were surpassed. Modernity has been associated with cultural and intellectual movements of 1436–1789 and extending to the 1970s or later. According to Marshall Berman , modernity

5350-467: The Cold War ended and the post–Cold War era began (which includes most of the 1990s , the last decade of the 20th century). The Korean War , Vietnam War , and Soviet–Afghan War , impacted political life, while the counterculture of the 1960s and the rise of computers changed society in different, complex ways, including higher social and local mobility. At the end of the twentieth century,

5457-821: The European and Middle Eastern maps. The Allied powers before 1917 are sometimes referred to as the Triple Entente , and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as the Triple Alliance . Much of the fighting in World War I took place along the Western Front , within a system of opposing manned trenches and fortifications (separated by a " no man's land ") running from the North Sea to

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5564-477: The Industrial Revolution is not exact. Eric Hobsbawm held that it "broke out" in the 1780s and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s, while T. S. Ashton held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830 (in effect the reigns of George III , The Regency , and George IV ). The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting

5671-574: The Pacific Ocean, and in the air over Japan. Italy surrendered in September 1943 and was split into a northern Germany-occupied puppet state and an Allies-friendly state in the south; Germany surrendered in May 1945. Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japan surrendered , marking the end of the war on September 2, 1945. It is possible that around 62 million people died in

5778-730: The United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, as well as British Commonwealth countries which were controlled directly by the UK, such as the Indian Empire . All of these countries declared war on Germany in September 1939. Following the lull in fighting, known as the " Phoney War ", Germany invaded western Europe in May 1940. Six weeks later, France, in the meantime attacked by Italy as well, surrendered to Germany, which then tried unsuccessfully to conquer Britain. On September 27, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed

5885-651: The United States, the Soviet Union, and China were referred to as a "trusteeship of the powerful" during World War II and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in the Declaration by United Nations . These four countries were considered the " Four Policemen " or "Four Sheriffs" of the Allies and were the primary victors of World War II. Battles raged across all of Europe, in the north Atlantic Ocean , across North Africa, throughout Southeast Asia, throughout China, across

5992-649: The abolition of the slave trade , and propelled by economic exploitation, the Scramble for Africa was initiated formally at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1884–1885. All the major European powers laid claim to the areas of Africa where they could exhibit a sphere of influence over the area. These claims did not have to have any substantial land holdings or treaties to be legitimate. The French gained major ground in West Africa ,

6099-491: The album The Bridge Man (word) Human Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Modern man . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Modern_man&oldid=1170823481 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

6206-725: The beginning of World War II in 1939. It included the Roaring Twenties , the Great Depression , and the rise of communism in Russia and fascism in Italy and Germany. World War II was a global military conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating in The Holocaust and ending with the dropping of the atom bomb . Although Japan had invaded China in 1937,

6313-409: The beginning of a new modernist age as it combats oppressive politics, economics as well as other social forces including mass media. Some authors, such as Lyotard and Baudrillard , believe that modernity ended in the mid- or late 20th century and thus have defined a period subsequent to modernity, namely Postmodernity (1930s/1950s/1990s–present). Other theorists, however, regard the period from

6420-553: The border of Switzerland . On the Eastern Front , the vast eastern plains and limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate from developing, although the scale of the conflict was just as large. Hostilities also occurred on and under the sea and — for the first time — from the air. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and nearly that many more in the participating countries' home fronts on account of food shortages and genocide committed under

6527-479: The chance path a whole people has taken over history. This thought influenced the political (and aesthetic) thinking of Immanuel Kant , Edmund Burke and others and led to a critical review of modernist politics. On the conservative side, Burke argued that this understanding encouraged caution and avoidance of radical change. However more ambitious movements also developed from this insight into human culture, initially Romanticism and Historicism , and eventually both

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6634-407: The connected loss of strength of traditional religious and ethical norms, have led to many reactions against modern development . Optimism and the belief in constant progress have been most recently criticized by postmodernism , while the dominance of Western Europe and North America over the rest of the world has been criticized by postcolonial theory . Eras can not easily be defined. 1500

6741-414: The context of this debate, the ancients ( anciens ) and moderns ( modernes ) were proponents of opposing views, the former believing that contemporary writers could do no better than imitate the genius of Classical antiquity, while the latter, first with Charles Perrault (1687), proposed that more than a mere Renaissance of ancient achievements, the Age of Reason had gone beyond what had been possible in

6848-460: The conventional view is that World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Within two days, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, even though the fighting was confined to Poland. Pursuant to a then-secret provision of its non-aggression Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , the Soviet Union joined Germany on September 17, 1939, to conquer Poland and divide Eastern Europe. The Allies were initially made up of Poland,

6955-410: The cover of various civil wars and internal conflicts. Notably, more people died of the worldwide influenza outbreak at the end of the war and shortly after than died in the hostilities. The unsanitary conditions engendered by the war, severe overcrowding in barracks, wartime propaganda interfering with public health warnings, and migration of so many soldiers around the world helped the outbreak become

7062-472: The definition of "modernity" from exclusively denoting Western European culture to a culturally relativistic definition, thereby: "Modernity is not Westernization, and its key processes and dynamics can be found in all societies". Central to modernity is emancipation from religion, specifically the hegemony of Christianity (mainly Roman Catholicism ), and the consequent secularization. According to writers like Fackenheim and Husserl, modern thought repudiates

7169-412: The electronic signal – and so the time required for the movement of its essential ingredients has been reduced to instantaneity. For all practical purposes, power has become truly exterritorial, no longer bound, or even slowed down, by the resistance of space (the advent of cellular telephones may well serve as a symbolic 'last blow' delivered to the dependency on space: even the access to a telephone market

7276-499: The formal establishment of social science , and contemporaneous antithetical developments such as Marxism . It also encompasses the social relations associated with the rise of capitalism, and shifts in attitudes associated with secularization , liberalization , modernization and post-industrial life . By the late 19th and 20th centuries , modernist art, politics, science and culture has come to dominate not only Western Europe and North America, but almost every populated area on

7383-435: The fugitive, the contingent". Advancing technological innovation, affecting artistic technique and the means of manufacture, changed rapidly the possibilities of art and its status in a rapidly changing society. Photography challenged the place of the painter and painting. Architecture was transformed by the availability of steel for structures. From conservative Protestant theologian Thomas C. Oden 's perspective, modernity

7490-682: The globe, including movements thought of as opposed to the West and globalization . The modern era is closely associated with the development of individualism , capitalism , urbanization and a belief in the possibilities of technological and political progress . Wars and other perceived problems of this era , many of which come from the effects of rapid change , and the connected loss of strength of traditional religious and ethical norms , have led to many reactions against modern development . Optimism and belief in constant progress has been most recently criticized by postmodernism while

7597-406: The globe, including movements thought of as opposed to the western world and globalization . The modern era is closely associated with the development of individualism , capitalism , urbanization , and a belief in the positive possibilities of technological and political progress . The brutal wars and other conflicts of this era , many of which come from the effects of rapid change, and

7704-494: The hypocrisy of European modernity, which promotes ideals of progress and rationality while concealing how much of Europe’s economic growth was built on the exploitation, violence, and dehumanization integral to colonial domination. Similarly, Bhambra argued that beyond economic advancement, Western powers "modernized" through colonialism, demonstrating that developments such as the welfare systems in England were largely enabled by

7811-503: The late 20th century to the present as merely another phase of modernity; Zygmunt Bauman calls this phase liquid modernity , Giddens labels it high modernity (see High modernism ). Politically, modernity's earliest phase starts with Niccolò Machiavelli 's works which openly rejected the medieval and Aristotelian style of analyzing politics by comparison with ideas about how things should be, in favour of realistic analysis of how things really are. He also proposed that an aim of politics

7918-583: The majority of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous and is often compared to the Neolithic Revolution , when mankind developed agriculture and gave up its nomadic lifestyle. The First Industrial Revolution gave way to the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships and railways, and later in

8025-547: The methodological approach of Hobbes include those of John Locke , Spinoza , Giambattista Vico , and Rousseau. David Hume made what he considered to be the first proper attempt at trying to apply Bacon's scientific method to political subjects, rejecting some aspects of the approach of Hobbes. Modernist republicanism openly influenced the foundation of republics during the Dutch Revolt (1568–1609), English Civil War (1642–1651), American Revolution (1775–1783),

8132-464: The mid-15th century, or roughly the European development of movable type and the printing press . In this context the modern society is said to develop over many periods, and to be influenced by important events that represent breaks in the continuity. After modernist political thinking had already become widely known in France, Rousseau 's re-examination of human nature led to a new criticism of

8239-419: The mid-20th century and only gained substantial traction in the 1960s and 1970s. Nipperdey (2022) pointed to its widespread usage by American historians around 1900 already, adding: 'In the interwar years the term permeated all areas of professional activity from textbooks and graduate school seminars to conferences, research articles, and job descriptions.' The difference between "early modern" and just "modern"

8346-556: The middle of the century, leading to wars that were also unprecedented. However, the increased communications contributed to democratization . Technological developments included the development of airplanes and space exploration , nuclear technology , advancement in genetics , and the dawning of the Information Age . Major political developments included the Israeli–Palestinian conflict , two world wars, and

8453-554: The new Machiavellian realism include Mandeville 's influential proposal that " Private Vices by the dextrous Management of a skilful Politician may be turned into Publick Benefits " (the last sentence of his Fable of the Bees ), and also the doctrine of a constitutional separation of powers in government, first clearly proposed by Montesquieu . Both these principles are enshrined within the constitutions of most modern democracies . It has been observed that while Machiavelli's realism saw

8560-532: The nineteenth century with the internal combustion engine and electric power generation. Following the Napoleonic Wars , the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one-quarter of the world's population and one-third of the land area. It enforced a Pax Britannica , encouraged trade, and battled rampant piracy. Slavery was greatly reduced around the world. Following

8667-461: The other hand, would describe rather a movement in art than a period of history, and is usually applied to arts, but not to any events of the very recent history. This changed, when postmodernity was coined to describe the major changes in the 1950s and 1960s in economy, society, culture, and philosophy. These terms stem from European History; in worldwide usage, such as in China, India, and Islam,

8774-537: The other world powers, which led to massive social unrest in both empires. While earlier centuries also saw significant developments, the 20th century was distinguished by the unprecedented pace and global scale of economic, technological, and cultural changes. Still, advancing technology and medicine have had a great impact even in the Global South . Large-scale industry and more centralized media made brutal dictatorships possible on an unprecedented scale in

8881-440: The past 200 years or so, has tried, in various iterations, to accommodate, or at least tolerate, modern doubt in expounding Christian revelation, while Traditionalist Catholics , Eastern Orthodox and fundamentalist Protestant thinkers and clerics have tried to fight back, denouncing skepticism of every kind. Modernity aimed towards "a progressive force promising to liberate humankind from ignorance and irrationality". In

8988-629: The present day, and could include authors several centuries old, from about the time of Bede , i.e. referring to the time after the foundation of the Order of Saint Benedict and/or the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The Latin adjective was adopted in Middle French , as moderne , by the 15th century, and hence, in the early Tudor period , into Early Modern English . The early modern word meant "now existing", or "pertaining to

9095-608: The present times", not necessarily with a positive connotation. English author and playwright William Shakespeare used the term modern in the sense of "every-day, ordinary, commonplace". The word entered wide usage in the context of the late 17th-century quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns within the Académie Française , debating the question of "Is Modern culture superior to Classical (Græco–Roman) culture?" In

9202-463: The rest of the world. Dipesh Chakrabarty contends that European historicism positions Europe as the exclusive birthplace of modernity, placing European thinkers and institutions at the center of Enlightenment, progress, and innovation. This narrative marginalizes non-Western thinkers, ideas and achievements, reducing them to either deviations from or delays in an otherwise supposedly universal trajectory of modern development. Frantz Fanon similarly exposes

9309-419: The sake of progress—may in many cases have what critical theory says is a negative and dehumanising effect on modern society. Enlightenment, understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, has always aimed at liberating human beings from fear and installing them as masters. Yet the wholly enlightened earth radiates under the sign of disaster triumphant. What prompts so many commentators to speak of

9416-452: The starting point is the same as Marx, feudal society, Durkheim emphasizes far less the rising of the bourgeoisie as a new revolutionary class and very seldom refers to capitalism as the new mode of production implemented by it. The fundamental impulse to modernity is rather industrialism accompanied by the new scientific forces. In the work of Max Weber , modernity is closely associated with the processes of rationalization and disenchantment of

9523-486: The subjective or existential experience of the conditions they produce, and their ongoing impact on human culture, institutions, and politics. As an analytical concept and normative idea, modernity is closely linked to the ethos of philosophical and aesthetic modernism ; political and intellectual currents that intersect with the Enlightenment; and subsequent developments such as existentialism , modern art ,

9630-469: The terms are applied in a very different way, but often in the context with their contact with European culture in the Age of Discoveries . Changes, mostly seen as advances, in all areas of human activity— politics , industry , society , economics , commerce , transport , communication , mechanization , automation , science , medicine , technology , religion , the arts , and other aspects of culture —appear to have transformed an Old World into

9737-437: The value of reasoning itself which in turn led to a new understanding of less rationalistic human activities, especially the arts. The initial influence was upon the movements known as German Idealism and Romanticism in the 18th and 19th century. Modern art therefore belongs only to the later phases of modernity. For this reason art history keeps the term modernity distinct from the terms Modern Age and Modernism – as

9844-422: The wake of secularisation. Modernity may be described as the "age of ideology". For Marx, what was the basis of modernity was the emergence of capitalism and the revolutionary bourgeoisie, which led to an unprecedented expansion of productive forces and to the creation of the world market. Durkheim tackled modernity from a different angle by following the ideas of Saint-Simon about the industrial system. Although

9951-611: The war ; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, genocide (in particular, the Holocaust ), and aerial bombing. The former Soviet Union and China suffered the most casualties. Estimates place deaths in the Soviet Union at around 23 million, while China suffered about 10 million. No country lost a greater portion of its population than Poland: approximately 5.6 million, or 16%, of its pre-war population of 34.8 million died. The Holocaust (which roughly means "burnt whole")

10058-483: The war, eventually resulting in the establishment of the People's Republic of China . The former colonies of the European powers began their road to independence. The Cold War between the "West" (the United States, Western Europe, and Japan) and the "East" (the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China) dominated politics from the end of World War II in 1945, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at which point

10165-460: The wealth extracted through colonial exploitation. In sociology, a discipline that arose in direct response to the social problems of modernity, the term most generally refers to the social conditions, processes, and discourses consequent to the Age of Enlightenment . In the most basic terms, British sociologist Anthony Giddens describes modernity as ...a shorthand term for modern society, or industrial civilization. Portrayed in more detail, it

10272-511: The world was at a major crossroads. Throughout the century, more technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history. Computers, the Internet, and other technologies radically altered daily lives. However, several problems faced the world during the Cold War period and the 1990s that followed. First of all, the gap between rich and poor nations continued to widen. Some said that this problem could not be fixed, arguing that there

10379-490: The world. Critical theorists such as Theodor Adorno and Zygmunt Bauman propose that modernity or industrialization represents a departure from the central tenets of the Enlightenment and towards nefarious processes of alienation , such as commodity fetishism and the Holocaust . Contemporary sociological critical theory presents the concept of rationalization in even more negative terms than those Weber originally defined. Processes of rationalization—as progress for

10486-433: The world. Viruses such as West Nile and Avian influenza continued to spread quickly and easily. In poor nations, malaria and other diseases affected the majority of the population. Millions were infected with HIV , the virus that causes AIDS , which was becoming an epidemic in southern Africa and around the world. Increased globalization , specifically Americanization , was also occurring. While not necessarily

10593-728: Was a world conflict , ranging from July 1914 to the final Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Allied Powers , led by the British Empire , France , Russia until March 1918, Japan and the United States after 1917, defeated the Central Powers , led by the German Empire , Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire . The war caused the disintegration of four empires — the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian ones — as well as radical change in

10700-536: Was a set amount of wealth and it could only be shared by so many. Others claimed that powerful nations with large economies were not doing enough to help improve the rapidly evolving economies of the Third World . Developing countries faced many challenges, including the scale of the task to be surmounted, rapidly growing populations, and the need to protect the environment, along with the associated costs. Secondly, disease threatened to destabilize many regions of

10807-528: Was coined shortly before 1585 to describe the beginning of a new era. The term "early modern" was introduced in the English language by American historians at the turn of the 20th century (around 1900). It was long thought that the concept was invented either in the 1930s to distinguish the time between the Middle Ages and time of the late Enlightenment (1800), or that "early modern" was not coined until

10914-618: Was defined by the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution . Sometimes distinct from the modern periods themselves, the terms " modernity " and " modernism " refer to a new way of thinking, distinct, from previous ways of thinking such as medieval thinking. The European Renaissance (about 1420–1630) is an important transition period beginning between the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, which started in Italy. " Postmodernism ", coined 1949, on

11021-464: Was enabled by the introduction of canals , improved roads , and then railways . The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal ) and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing ) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity. The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The date of

11128-512: Was influenced by Machiavelli's earlier criticism of medieval Scholasticism , and his proposal that leaders should aim to control their own fortune. Influenced both by Galileo's new physics and Bacon, René Descartes argued soon afterward that mathematics and geometry provided a model of how scientific knowledge could be built up in small steps. He also argued openly that human beings themselves could be understood as complex machines. Isaac Newton , influenced by Descartes, but also, like Bacon,

11235-517: Was informally split into Western and Soviet spheres of influence . Western Europe later aligned as NATO , and Eastern Europe as the Warsaw Pact . There was a shift in power from Western Europe and the British Empire to the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. These two rivals would later face off in the Cold War . In Asia, the defeat of Japan led to its democratization . China's civil war continued through and after

11342-648: Was the deliberate and systematic murder of millions of Jews and other "unwanted" groups during World War II by the Nazi regime in Germany. Several differing views exist regarding whether it was intended to occur from the war's beginning or if the plans for it came about later. Regardless, persecution of Jews extended well before the war even started, such as during Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). The Nazis used propaganda to great effect to stir up anti-Semitic feelings within ordinary Germans. After World War II, Europe

11449-481: Was the major technological , socioeconomic , and cultural change in late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread throughout the world. During that time, an economy based on manual labour was replaced by one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery . It began with the mechanisation of the textile industries and the development of iron -making techniques, and trade expansion

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