Society and Culture in the 19th Century

1
Society and Culture in the 19th Century

• From Realism to Progress

2
Industrial Forces

• Between 1850 and 1870, Continental
  industrialization had come of age
• Although this period was marred by periods of
  economic depression (1857-58) or recession
  (1866-67), it was an age of considerable economic
  prosperity, especially evident in the growth of
  domestic and foreign markets

3
Industrial Forces

• Three forces helped drive Continental economic
  expansion
• Textiles, which experienced an increased
  mechanization from the period 1850-70, still
  lagged behind Britain
• Railroads Fueled most of European
  industrialization
• The railroads, in turn, stimulated the growth of
  the coal and iron industries

4
Less Barriers to International Trade

• Another important factor in Continental
  industrialization was the expansion of markets
  due to the lessening of barriers to international
  trade
• Important waterways in Europe were opened up by
  the elimination of restrictive tolls
• The Danube River (1857)
• The Rhine (1861)
• Additionally, the negotiation of trade treaties
  in the 1860s reduced or eliminated protective
  tariffs throughout most of western Europe

5
Weak Trade Unions

• As for the workers, industrialization was not so
  beneficial as prior to 1870, capitalist factory
  workers remained free to hire labor on their own
  terms based upon market forces
• Attempts at forming Trade Unions
• Real change in favor of the workers only appeared
  after 1870 with the appearance of socialist
  parties and socialist trade union
• The guiding light in the creation of these groups
  had already been developed with the writings of
  Karl Marx

6
Marx and Marxism

• Marxism can be traced to the 1848 publication of
  a short treatise titled The Communist Manifesto
• Written by two Germans, Karl Marx (1818-1883)
  Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)

7
Life and Experience of Karl Marx

• Born into a relatively prosperous middle class
  family in Trier, Marx was descended from a long
  line of rabbis, but his father, a lawyer, had
  converted to Protestantism to preserve his job
• Education and influence of the philosopher Georg
  Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
• After receiving is PhD in philosophy, Marx had
  hoped to teach at university, but was unable to
  obtain a position because of his professed
  atheism, so he became a journalist
• His newspaper was soon suppressed because of its
  radical views and Marx soon moved to Paris where
  he met Friedrich Engels

8
The Communist Manifesto

• In 1847, Marx and Engels joined a small group of
  German socialist revolutionaries known as the
  Communist League
• Marx Engels, now enthusiastic advocates of the
  radical class working class agreed to draft a
  statement of their ideas for the league
• The result was The Communist Manifesto
• Published in German in January 1848, but passed
  unnoticed
• However, it would become one of the most
  influential political treatises in modern
  European history
• Ending words

9
Bourgeois and Proletariat

• Marxs ideas were partly a synthesis of French
  and German thought
• French Success of a revolution and examples of
  socialism
• German Idealism and the idea of the dialectic
• However, Marx believed that material forces
  determined change and not ideas (Hegel)
• Class struggles drove history
• Previously it had been between feudalism and the
  emerging middle class (bourgeoisie) gaining the
  upper hand
• Their ideas now became the dominant view of
  society, but they were not being challenged by
  the proletariat (industrial working class)

10
Classless Society

• Marx Engels believed that the workers would
  eventually overthrow their bourgeois masters and
  form a dictatorship that would reshape society
  and the means of production
• The result would be a classless society, and the
  state (the instrument of the bourgeoisie) would
  wither away
• The Class struggle would finally be over leading
  to a classless society with progress in science,
  technology, and industry and to greater wealth
  for all

11
Later Activities

• After the revolutions of 1848, Marx retreated to
  London where he spent the rest of his life
• Writing on political economy Das Kapital
• However, only one volume was completed because
  Marx became preoccupied with organizing the
  working-class movement
• The result was the International Working Mens
  Association (1864), which eventually became the
  First International

12
New Age of Science Proliferation of Discoveries

• Effect of The Scientific Revolution on the
  Western worldview
• The relationship between the Industrial
  Revolution and Science
• New Scientific Discoveries
• Development of Steam Engine leads to the
  discovery of thermodynamics
• Louis Pasteur and the Germ Theory of Disease
• Dmitri Mendeleyev and the Periodic Chart
• Michael Faraday and the phenomenon of
  electromagnetic induction

13
Faith in Science's Benefits

• The steadily increasing and dramatic material
  gains generated by science and technology led to
  a growth in the faith of sciences benefits
• Widespread acceptance of the scientific method,
  based upon observation, experiment and logical
  analysis and the only path to objective truth
  reality
• Decline of Faith and rise of Materialism
• This is most clearly seen in the development of
  the theory of organic evolution as argued by
  Charles Darwin

14
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

• Like many of the great scientists of the 19th
  century, Darwin was a scientific amateur
• Born into an upper middle-class family, he
  studied theology at Cambridge University in
  addition to pursuing an intense interest in
  geology biology
• In 1831, at age 21 his hobby became his vocation
  when he was appointed as a naturalist abroad a
  Royal Navy scientific expedition abroad the HMS
  Beagle

15
Darwin's Trip on the Beagle

• The purpose of the Beagle was to study the
  landmasses of South America and the South
  Pacific, with Darwins job to study the structure
  of various plant and animal life
• Observing animals on islands that were untouched
  by man, he compared them to animals on the
  mainland and came to the conclusion that animals
  evolved over time and in response to their
  environment
• Upon his return to Britain, Darwin formulated an
  explanation for evolution in the principles of
  Natural Selection, a theory which was presented
  in his famous book, On The Origin of Species by
  Means of Natural Selection

16
Theory of "Natural Selection"

• The basic idea was that all plants and animals
  had evolved over a long period of time from
  earlier and simpler forms of life (organic
  evolution)
• Malthus and the struggle for existence
• This struggle drove evolution as those that were
  naturally selected for survival survived while
  the unfit did not and became instinct
• Originally, Darwin only applied Natural Selection
  to plant and animal life
• Only in 1871 with the publication of The Descent
  of Man did Darwin apply the theory of natural
  selection to human beings

17
Consequences of Darwin

• Darwins theories were considered very
  controversial at first
• Others were disturbed by the implications of life
  as a struggle for survival - Where was there a
  place for moral values in this new world based
  upon survival of the fittest?
• For others who believed in rational order in the
  world, Darwins theory seemed to preclude purpose
  and design from the universe
• As time progressed, however, Darwins theories
  became acceptable, and would soon be applied not
  just nature, but also society with mixed results

18
Revolution in Health CareLouis Pasteur

• Helped led the breakthrough in medicine with his
  discovery of the germ theory of disease
• Pasteur was not a doctor, but a scientist who
  approached medical problems in a scientific way
• His work was soon perceived as practical by many
• 1863 Wine Industry and pasteurization
• In 1877, Pasteur turned his attentions to human
  diseases
• 1885 - Introduction of a preventive vaccination
  against rabies
• By the 1890s, the principle of vaccination was
  extended to diphtheria, typhoid fever, cholera,
  and plague

19
Revolution in Health CareJoseph Lister

• Pasteurs work also had an impact upon surgery
• Surgeons had traditionally set broken bones and
  treated wounds, but one of the major obstacles to
  more successful surgery was the inevitable
  postoperative infection
• Joseph Lister developed the antiseptic principle
• Following the work of Pasteur, Lister perceived
  that bacteria might enter a wound and cause
  infection
• His use of carbolic acid, a newly discovered
  disinfectant, proved remarkably effective in
  eliminating infections during surgery and
  increased the survivability rate of patients

20
Realism in Literature and ArtCharacteristics of
Realism

• Appears after 1850
• Belief that the world should be viewed
  realistically
• Literary Realists were distinguished by their
  deliberate rejection of Romanticism
• They wanted to deal with ordinary characters from
  real life rather than Romantic heroes in unusual
  settings
• Rejected poetry in favor of prose and the novel

21
Realistic Novel

• Gustave Flaubert and Madame Bovary
• William Thackeray and Vanity Fair
• Charles Dickens
• Considered the greatest of the Victorian
  novelists
• His focus on the lower and middle classes in
  Britains early industrial age became
  extraordinarily successful and his descriptions
  of the urban poor and the brutalization of human
  life were vividly realistic

22
Realism in Art

• Realism had by 1850, superseded both Romanticism
  and Classicism in art with its major
  characteristics being a desire to depict the
  everyday life of ordinary people, an attempt at
  photographic realism, and an interest in the
  natural environment
• Gustave Courbet
• Was the most famous artist of the Realist school
• In fact, Realism was first coined in 1850 to
  describe one of his paintings
• Focus
• Jean-Francois Millet
• Preoccupied with scenes from rural life,
  especially peasants laboring in the fields,
  although his Realism still contained an element
  of Romantic sentimentality
• His most famous work was The Gleaners

23
Music Twilight of Romanticism

• Franz Liszt
• Great piano virtuoso and has been credited with
  introducing the concept of the modern piano
  recital
• Richard Wagner
• Realized the German desire for a truly national
  opera
• Was not just a composer, but also a propagandist
  and writer in support of his own unique concept
  of music
• Considered both the culmination of the Romantic
  era and the beginning of the avant-garde
• Believed opera was the best form of artistic
  expression and transformed it into music drama
• Most noted for his The Ring of the Nibelung and
  operas dealing with myths and epics

24
The Second Industrial RevolutionSteel for Iron

• The first major change in industrialization after
  1870 with the emergence of the Second Industrial
  Revolution was the substitution of steel for iron
• Steel could be easily rolled and shaped for
  multiple uses from railways, ships, and armaments
• Steel production increased dramatically during
  this period
• In 1860, 125,000 tons were produced by 1913 it
  was 32 million

25
From Realism to Progress

• As the mid-point of the 19th century passed,
  European society underwent further changes
• A Second Industrial Revolution would transform
  Europe, creating the patterns of life that exist
  to this day
• The belief in science and progress creating a new
  and better world was commonplace throughout a
  Europe that could see no end to its greatness

26
The Second Industrial RevolutionElectricity

• Electricity was another of the developments that
  drove the Second Industrial Revolution as it
  proved to be a form of energy of great value and
  potential
• Electricity could be transformed into various
  forms of energy, such as heat, light, and motion
• Spawned a series of inventions such as the light
  bulb and revolutionized communications
• Influence upon transportation
• Affect upon the factory
• Allowed countries without coal to catch-up with
  industrialization

27
The Second Industrial RevolutionThe Internal
Combustion Engine

• The third major development of the SDI was the
  development of the internal combustion engine
• First produced in 1878 and fired by gas and air,
  it proved unsuitable until the development of
  liquid fuels, petroleum and its distilled
  derivatives
• As a result, naval ships were soon converted from
  coal to oil
• Moreover, the development of the internal
  combustion engine gave rise to the automobile and
  airplane which would both revolutionize
  transportation in the 20th century

28
The Second Industrial RevolutionNew Markets

• The increase in industrial production required
  the development of markets for the sale of the
  new manufactured good, but since the foreign
  markets were already saturated, Europeans were
  forced to look at their own domestic markets
• As Europeans were the richest consumers, these
  domestic markets offered abundant opportunities
  which in turn produced new techniques in business
  and marketing leading to a new consumer ethic
  which would drive the modern economy and lead to
  the emergence of a new Mass Society

29
New Patterns in an Industrial Economy

• From Depression to Prosperity
• Although the period after 1870 has been described
  as a period of economic prosperity, recessions
  and economic crises were still a part of economic
  life
• From 1873 to 1895, Europe experienced a series of
  economic crises, with France and Britain
  experiencing an economic depression in the 1880s
  while Germany and the US were recovering from
  theirs during the 1870s
• However, after 1895 Europe would experience an
  overall economic boom and a level of economic
  prosperity was achieved, which in light of the
  events that would occur in 1914, Europeans would
  look back upon as la belle époque a golden age
  in European civilization

30
New PatternsGermany Surpasses Britain

• With German unification in 1870, Germany would
  replace Britain as the industrial leader in
  Europe
• How did this come about?
• Germany, as a late entrant to industrialization,
  was able to shift better to the new techniques of
  the SIR, whereas the British were not
• The British were suspicious to new technologies
  and could not adapt as easily as their German
  counterparts
• Moreover, the British were not willing to
  encourage formal scientific and technical
  education

31
New PatternsUnion of Science and Technology

• This is important because after 1870, the
  relationship between science and technology grew
  closer, and this relationship was no more clearly
  understood than in Germany
• For example, by 1899 German technical schools
  were allowed to award doctorate degrees
• By 1900, they were graduating nearly three to
  four thousand a year and most of these graduates
  would find employment in the rising industrial
  firms of Germany

32
New PatternsEuropean Economic Zones

• Although the struggle for economic supremacy
  between Great Britain and Germany was important,
  we should not overlook another polarization that
  was occurring within the European economy
• By 1900, Europe was divided between an advanced
  industrial zone comprising most of western Europe
  and a mostly backward and little industrialized
  area in southern and eastern Europe
• These largely agricultural areas provided the raw
  materials and food that drove the more
  industrialized areas of France, Germany, and
  Great Britain and this pattern would remain for
  most of the 20th century

33
Women and New Job Opportunities

• The Second Industrial Revolution also had an
  immense impact upon the position of women in the
  labor force
• Throughout the 19th century, there was
  considerable controversy over a womans right to
  work
• However, more often than not, women had to work
  to supplement the family income and resorted to
  low paying and low skilled jobs in sweatshops

34
Women and New Job Opportunities

• White Collar Work
• However, after 1870 new job opportunities for
  women arose
• The development of larger factories and the
  expansion of government created a large number of
  service, or white collar, jobs and employers
  hired women for these positions because they were
  low-paying and there was a shortage of male
  workers
• Although the jobs were unexciting, it allowed
  middle class women freedom and working-class
  women the opportunity to escape from the dirty
  work of the lower-class world
• Prostitution and Lower Class Women
• Despite these new job opportunities, many
  lower-class women were still forced to resort to
  the oldest profession, prostitution
• This was especially true of the rural
  working-class girls who flocked to the city
  searching for new job opportunities

35
Organizing the Working ClassSocialist Parties

• In an attempt to improve their lot, many workers
  formed political parties and trade unions
• One of the largest and most successful was
  founded in Germany, the German Social Democratic
  Party (SPD)
• Socialist parties were formed in other countries,
  such as Belgium, France, and Austria-Hungary
• As they grew in strength, the Socialists decided
  to form the Second International, but differences
  among the various Socialist parties prevented any
  real unity

36
Revisions of Marxist Thought

• Evolution, Not Revolution
• Pure Marxism argued that the collapse of
  capitalism was imminent and the need for
  socialist ownership of the means of production
• This was challenged by Revisionism, which argued
  that Marx was wrong - capitalism was not going to
  fall, the conditions of the workers was improving
  and changed should be achieved through democratic
  means via Socialist parties
• Divisiveness of Nationalism
• Although pure Marxism argued that the workers
  have no country, in reality nationalism proved
  too powerful
• Despite resolutions passed in 1907 1910
  advocating joint action to prevent war, it proved
  hollow as the various Socialist parties followed
  their national interests

37
Emergence of a Mass Society

• The new patterns of industrial production, mass
  consumption, and working-class organization
  identified with the SIR were only one aspect of
  the new mass society emerging in Europe after
  1870
• A larger and improved urban environment, new
  patterns of social structure, gender issues, mass
  education, and mass leisure were also important
  features of European society

38
Population Growth and Emigration

• European population increased from 270 million to
  460 million from 1850 1910 and after 1880 there
  was a decline in the death rate
• Improved Public Sanitation Medical science
• An Improved Diet
• Increased Emigration
• 1880 (500,000)
• 1906-1910 (1.3 million)
• Between 1846 1932 60 million left

39
Transformation of the Urban Environment

• Growth of Cities
• One of the most important consequences of
  industrialization and the population explosion
  was the growth in cities
• Urban population in 1800 40 in GB, 25 in
  France Germany, 10 in Eastern Europe
• By 1914 urban inhabitants numbered 80 in GB, 45
  in France, 60 in Germany and 30 in Eastern
  Europe
• Moreover, the size of cities grew in 1800 there
  were 21 cities over 100,000 - by 1900 there were
  147
• Improving Living Conditions
• Sanitation
• Housing
• Redesigning the Cities

40
Social Structure of Mass Society

• Elite Wealth and Status
• Middle Classes Good Conduct
• Emphasis and concern for propriety and shared
  values of hard work and Christian morality
• Lower Classes Skilled, Semiskilled, Unskilled

41
The Role of Women

• Cult of Domesticity
• Women remained legally inferior, economically
  dependent, and defined by family and household
  roles
• Marriage was seen as the only noble profession
  for women and this was glorified by the middle
  class in the cult of domesticity
• Middle Class Family
• For the middle classes, the family was the
  central institution of their life
• Men provided the family income while women
  focused on household and child care
• Working Class Family
• Although initially hard, by 1890, working-class
  families were following in the wake of the middle
  class as to their family life

42
Education and Leisure in an Age of Mass Society

• Primary Education for All
• Government Involvement
• For a More Efficient Work Force Skilled Labor
• For a More Intelligent Electorate Patriotism and
  Nationalism
• Demand for Teachers with most being Females
• Increase in Literacy allows for the creation of a
  reading public and the rise of mass-circulation
  newspapers such as the Evening News (1881) the
  Daily Mail (1896)
• Mass Leisure
• Dance Halls Amusement parks
• Tourism
• Sports which provided not just entertainment, but
  also training

43
Political Democracy in Western Europe

• British Reform
• Reform Act of 1884
• Redistribution Act created constituencies with
  equal populations with one representative MPs
  were finally given salaries
• Frances Third Republic
• National Assembly versus the Commune
• Attempts to restore a monarchy failed, and a
  republican form of government was established as
  a compromise - the constitution of 1875,
  originally intended as a stopgap measure, would
  last 65 years
• However, the Third Republic would remain divided
  as a result of the Commune and from opposition
  from the monarchists, the Catholic Church and the
  Army

44
Persistence of the Old OrderBismarcks
Conservatism

• Despite unification, divisions still remained
• The ruling elite, authoritarians and
  militaristic, tried to preserve their power
  against the growth of democracy, especially from
  the socialists
• The Kulturkampf
• Attacks against the Socialists
• In 1878, Bismarck has the SPD banned, but also
  tries to woo the workers by enacting social
  welfare legislation (sickness, disability,
  accident benefits old age pensions)
• Bismarcks measures fail to stop the growth of
  socialism and before he can enact more repressive
  measures he is dismissed by the new Kaiser,
  William II, who is eager to pursue his own
  policies

45
Persistence of the Old Order

• Austrias Imperial Decrees
• Austria is given a constitution, but Franz Joseph
  largely ignores it and rules through decree
• Furthermore, Austria is still troubled by the
  problem of the minorities and this would only
  increase as the century progressed
• Absolutism in Russia
• Lastly, in Russia the government made no
  concessions to liberal or democratic reforms
• The assassination of Alexander II in 1881
  convinced his son Alexander III that reform was a
  mistake and repressive measures were the common
  response
• Upon Alexanders death, his weak and unprepared
  son Nicholas II adopted his fathers conviction
  that the absolute power of the Tsar must be
  maintained
• However, the face of Russia was changing and
  Nicholass approach was no longer realistic and
  would have dire consequences for his dynasty