MODERNITY

Modernity and Its effects

Modernity and Its effects

Introduction

Modernity refers to the period after the traditional period. This is also known as post-traditional era. According to Barker in Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice modernity is the period in which the people have shifted from the feudalism era to the era which promoted industrialism i.e. the era of F.W Taylor, capitalism, secularism etc. Another concept of modernity is the paradigm shift in the psychology of the people of west. There are different trends of modernity which normally refers to the contributions in the social environment and issue that are related to the rise of capitalism. In a wider perspective modernity also refers to the change in the psychology and intellectual level and intellectual culture. It is not false to state that modernity is associated highly with the intellectual and cultural movements along the period from 1436 to 1789 and it extended to the 1970s century (Toulmin, 1994, pp. 5).

There are different phases through which the traditional psychology has changed to the modern way of thinking. These phases include the early modernity which is spread from 1500 to 1789, the classical modernity which is spread from 1789 to 1900 and the late modernity which is spread from 1900 to 1989 (Toulmin, 1994, pp. 169). Different people have contributed towards various domains of modernity which are discussed below.

Discussion

Politics and modernity

Modernity is an important term in politics as it has a more than 200 years old history in the development of the European nation (Barker, C., 2005, pp.440). There had been great rebirth in the politics of the Europe. The aim of modernity in politics was to control the personal chance and fate as relying on luck can lead to evil deeds (Barker, C., 2005, pp. 442). It is argued that aggressive divisions in political communities is a factor which cannot be avoided but it can also become a source of motivation and strength for leaders and law makers that can encourage the leaders in one way or another (Soni, V.,2011, pp. 420).

Another important thing was to impart happiness to the politics which was not done before. In the period of Thomas Hobbes it was attempted that methods related to new and modern physical sciences which was proposed by Descartes and Bacon should be implemented on humanity and politics (Soni, V.,2011, pp. 420). First systematic attempt to apply the scientific methods of Bacon was made by David Hume. Hume applied Bacon's concepts on political subjects and rejected few aspects which were discussed by Hobbes (Soni, 2011, pp.420).

Rousseau thinking initiated the second phase of this modernist politics. He projected on a model which emphasized that human nature was more flexible than it was thought previously. He questioned on sociality of human and that it is naturally rational (Toulmin, S. E., 1994, pp. 5). He further discussed that a good person or a good political system depends on the historical events and the strategies which has been implemented. He further discussed that for a good political system it is ...