INTELLECTUAL AND
CULTURAL FRONTIERS
1914 - PRESENT
POST-WAR PESSIMISM
•
The "lost generation"
•
•
•
Term described pessimism of U.S., European thinkers after the war
Postwar poetry, fiction reflected disillusionment with western culture
Scholars--Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee--lamented decline of west
•
•
Karl Barth attacked liberal Christian theology embracing idea of progress
Older concepts of original sin and human depravity revived
•
•
•
•
Science tarnished by the technological horrors of World War I
Most western societies granted suffrage to all men and women
Many intellectuals disillusioned with democracy
Conservatives decried "the rule of inferiors
•
Religious thought reflected uncertainty and pessimism
•
Attacks on the ideal of progress
INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTIONS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, 1906
Space and time relative to the person measuring them
Implication: reality or truth merely a set of mental constructions
Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, 1927
Impossible to state position, velocity of a subatomic particle at same time
Atomic universe indeterminate; can only speak of probabilities
Challenged long-held assumptions about truth, cause and effect
Freud's psychoanalytic theory, 1896
Conflict between conscious and unconscious mental processes
Sought psychological causes of mental illness
Sexual repression frequent cause of neuroses
Freud's ideas shaped psychiatric profession, influenced literature and arts
Modern painting
When photography can reproduce nature, why should painting?
Painters like Pablo Picasso sought freedom of expression, emotional expression
Borrowed from artistic traditions of Asia, Pacific, and Africa
No widely accepted standards of good or bad art
Modern architecture: the Bauhaus school started in Germany, 1920
•
•
An international style for twentieth-century urban buildings
Walter Gropius: form should follow function; combined engineering and art
Simple shapes, steel frames, and walls of glass
International style dominated urban landscapes well after 1930s
AMERICAN SOCIETY POST-1945
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Domestic containment
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
U.S. leaders held families to be best defense against communism
Women discouraged from working, should stay home and raise kids
Senator McCarthy led attack against suspected communists in United States
Increasing pressure to conform, retreat to home and family
Female liberation movement a reaction to postwar domesticity
Working women unhappy with new cult of domesticity
Writers Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan reflected women's dissatisfaction
Some feminists used Marxist language, argued for "women's liberation"
Black nationalism in United States, Caribbean, and emerging states of Africa
Influenced by Jamaicans, singer Bob Marley, nationalist Marcus Garvey
Martin Luther King Jr. inspired by Gandhi's nonviolent methods
The U.S. civil rights movement emerged from cold war
USSR critical of United States for treatment of African-Americans
African-Americans organized in protest of southern segregation
1954, U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated education was unconstitutional
Rosa Parks started boycott of Montgomery buses, led by M. L. King, 1955
Cold war consumerism
Socialist countries could not match United States in material wealth, consumer goods
Stark contrasts between economies of western and eastern Europe
Marshall Plan infused western Europe with aid, increased standard of living
The space race exemplified U.S.-Soviet competition in science and technology
Soviet gained nuclear weapons, then intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM)
Soviets launched Sputnik, first satellite, 1957
Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, first man to orbit the earth, 1961
American space program followed; John Glenn orbited, 1962
President Kennedy established NASA; United States put man on the moon, 1969
Peaceful coexistence somewhat improved after Stalin's death, 1953
Slight relaxation of censorship under Khrushchev
Both sides feared nuclear confrontation
Khrushchev visited United States in 1959, put a human face on communism
CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGES
•
•
•
•
•
Western consumerism becoming a global phenomenon
Sara versus Barbie in Iran
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Global Barbie
•
Barbie in Japan
Image of Barbie unsettling, Mattel created a younger doll for Japanese market
Whereas Iranians reject image of Barbie, Japanese adjust Barbie to their aesthetic
Consumption and cultural interaction
Global culture of consumption
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Barbie seen as a threat to Islamic values, symbol of cultural imperialism
Iranian dolls, Sara and her brother Dara (an Islamic cleric), are modest alternatives
Satisfies wants and desires rather than needs or necessities
Homogenization of global culture: blue jeans, Coca-Cola, McDonalds
Western icons often replace local businesses and indigenous cultures
Brand names also identify local products, for example, Swiss Rolex, Perrier, Armani
Pan-American culture competes with United States
Eva Pe_on (Evita) has become a pop icon in Argentina and beyond
Latin American societies blended foreign and indigenous cultural practices
The age of access
Globalization minimizes social, economic, and political isolation
Preeminence of English language
•
•
•
•
•
Critics: mass media become a vehicle of cultural imperialism
Internet is an information colony, with English hegemony
China attempts a firewall to control Internet information
Adaptations of technology in authoritarian states
Zaire television showed dictator Mobutu Sese Seko walking on clouds
Vietnam and Iraq limit access to foreign servers on Internet
POP CULTURE
•
•
•
Leisure time allowed for development of mass entertainment
Technology led to syncretic blend of world artistic traditions
Globalizing Art and Culture
•
Fine art vs. pop(ular) art
•
•
•
•
Probably greatest aspect of Globalization
Syncretic World Beat: Classical, African, ethnic influences led to Jazz, Blues, Rock
Popularity of Beatles, ABBA, Ladysmith Black Mazembo around world
Movies
•
•
•
Interconnections, exchanges without war
Music
•
•
•
•
Distinction blurred
National distinctions largely gone
Technological wonder born of marriage between photography, art, music
Hollywood and Bollywood dominate production of world movies
Sports
•
•
•
•
Outgrowth of British interest in competitive sports, 1895 Olympic revival
1920s/1950s: Baseball, basketball spreads wherever Americans live, stationed
1930s: Popularity of soccer spreads from Europe to Latin America
Today perhaps the primary world wide entertainment: 2 billion watch Olympics