PERIODIZATION:
1914 - PRESENT
CONTINUITIES AND CHANGES
IN THE PERIOD
CONTINUITIES, BREAKS
1914 – 1939 and 1939 - 1945
30 Year World War
Nationalism triumphant
Western Europe at peak, beginning of challenge
1945 – 1989
Bipolar World of US, USSR
Decolonization, Internationalism
Globalization, Consumerism
1989 – Present
Multi-polar world
Decreased emphasis on ideologies
The universal or global village?
Rise of fundamentalism (reaction)
GREAT TRANSFORMATION
Prior to the 20th Century
Completed
• In Western Europe
• In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
• In Japan
Beginning but not completed
• In Russia
• In Eastern and Southern Europe
In the 20th Century
Completed
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In Eastern Europe, Latin America
In East Asia (China, Korea, Vietnam)
In Parts of Southeast Asia
In India, Central Asia including Mongolia
In Turkey, Israel and a few SW Asian, North African nations
In a few African nations such as South Africa
Beginning but not completed
• In Most of Africa
• In Most of the Muslim world
TRADITION
Challenged by
Modernism
Industrialization
Consumerism
Secularization
Westernization
Often unable to compete, survive
TRADITIONAL ECONOMIES
Produce within a small community
General uniformity of tasks, opportunities
Change is slow and distrusted
Generally autarkic
Decisions based on tradition, elders, past
Low, few or little
Surplus
Technology
Capital
Labor intensive
Much land, resources held in common
Production = consumption
Minimal trade
MARKET ECONOMY
Specialization
Technology intensive
Use artificial power
Produce surpluses
Profits are strongest motivation
Dominated by credit, monetary institutions
Trade critical
Supply and demand determine price, availability
Labor bought and sold as a factor
Products bought not produced by individual labor
Highly mechanized, technologized
CONSUMERISM
Workers
Paid in wages, creating demand
Workers need, creating supply
• Clothing, Housing, Food, Medicine
• Luxuries, Entertainment, Transportation
Workers acquired free time
Mass manufacture of consumer goods
Mass marketing of elite culture
URBANIZATION
Focus of transformation is the city
Most industries, opportunities located in cities
To grow large, cities need
Steel to build up
Rail to transport around, bring in food
Mass power to support life
Cities grow
Urban areas
Metropolitan areas
Suburbs
Megapolis
Conurbations
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Community or Society
Community is small and personal; villages and traditions
Society is large and held together by permanent large institutions
Lifestyle changes
Extended families tended to be norm at start
Families tend to become nuclear
Families tend to be fragmented, not contiguous
Women tend to become workers
Women often acquire rights, powers in society
Workers tend to become more educated
Childhood lengthened, adulthood delayed
Universal education is expanded
Pace of life much accelerated
Temporary relationships become common
Change becomes frequent
MASS POLITICS
Expansion of electorate
Universal male suffrage
Universal female suffrage
Enfranchisement of minorities
Politics
Is seen as marketplace of ideas
Competition and compromise to obtain change
Rise of political parties
Parties become common, open to all
Parties represent diverse factions
People vote their interests
Modern technology creates mass politics
Age of Information leads to competition of ideas
Rise of ideologies
Parties compete for voters
Modern technology allows for mass control
Rise of totalitarian ideologies
Rise of single party dictatorships
BUREAUCRATIZATION
Power of the state
State minimally intrusive prior to 19th century
Generally confined to politics, military, law
Expands massively into
• Social areas and concerns
• Economics, Industry, Commerce
Rolls created by war, increased technology
Bureaucrats
Become new social elites
Regulate all aspects of public life
Oversees expanding roll of government
SECULARIZATION
Process begun by Enlightenment
Idea of progress, reform, perfectibility
Notion of natural law, science
Religion is a personal matter not public concern
Science
Knowledge applied
Technology accelerates, achieves almost utopian world
Scientist replaces clergyman
Clergy explains by faith
Scientist explains by experimentation, proof
God diminished as irrational, unprovable
Separation of church and state
Humanism
Human (civil) law replaces God’s law
Human concerns, understandings dominate society
Rise of ideology to replace theology
Conflict between fundamentalism and humanism
DECOLONIZATION
DEMOCRATIZATION
Breakup of Western Empires
World War I challenged western control
Depression loosened links to mother countries
World War II destroyed Western invincibility
Democracy, US begin to insist up independence
Political vs. Social, Economics Decolonization
Self-Determination and Democratization
Wilson’s 14 Points, FDR and US model
UN Declaration of Human Rights
GLOBALIZATION
Began with imperialism, colonies
Expanded due to industrialization, trade
Necessary for market economy, free trade
Made possible by mass communication
Telephone, telegraph, television
Airplane, steam vessel
Computer, Internet, instant communication
Made unavoidable by economic specialization
Fostered by “universalizing agents”
Mass entertainment and culture
Immigration and migration for work
Mass religion
DEMOGRAPHICS
How much population is too much?
Control factors
Birth rate
Death rate
Life span
Phases
I: Prior to 1450 (World)
• High Birth, High Death
• Slow population growth
II: Europe 16-18th Centuries
• High Birth rate, declining death rate
• Population increase
III: Europe, US, Canada: 19th century; world 20th century
• High Birth rate, low death rate, longer life span
• Population explosion
IV: Europe, US, Japan late 20th century
• Low Birth Rate, Low Death Rate
• Declining Population
ENVIRONMENT
1750 – 1914 Saw European, parts of American areas effected
20th Century has seen effects spread throughout the world
20th Century has been an environmental disaster
Examples
Overpopulation and massive megapolis
Deforestation especially of tropical zones
Desertification has increased due to overgrazing, overfarming
Overfishing of rich areas had reduced catches to extremely low areas
Hunting of whales and sharks to near extinction
Overgrazing of fragile zones
Mass extinctions of animals
Settlement of fragile zones (tide waters, coastal zones)
Overuse of aquifers
Pollution of the Arctic, Antarctic
Environmental pollutants (fertilizers, radioactive ores) have made areas unlivable
Reduction of habitats and zones in transition to farming, logging
Pollution
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Water
Air
Land