History has been marginalised and understudied by many, especially many ambiguities remain to understand the difference between early modern, modernity and post modernism.
The modernity is considered to be a post-medieval phenomenon in the European history context.
Its main tenets are post-traditionalism, rise of capitalism and mercantilism, industrialisation, rationalisation and faith of universalism, secularisation, a rise of representative democracy, commodification, the disenchantment of the world, scientific knowledge and observation, enlightenment (1650-1800), the universality of reason, based on meta-theories, individualism, nationalism and rise of a national sovereign state.
The events that led to the advent of modernism began with the emergence of strong European monarchies in the 16th century that led to establishing a strong monarchial sovereign state, eventually reduced the power of church and God, and gave way to the rise of individualism and nation-state.
In simple chronological terms, the period between Renaissance to the industrial revolution (16th to 18th entury) is known as early modern/modernity (witnessed Reformation and Renaissance (Age of Reason), Revolutions (English, American and French)), followed by classical modernity phase from 18th century till the beginning of 20th century based on principles of enlightenment, idealism and liberalism, ideological developments, emancipation, evolutionary thinking in various academic disciplines and arts; and last phase of late modernity began in 1890s-1945/1980s that noticed post-colonial estate, the impact of two world wars that led to the shaping of the modern world.
It is pertinent to understand the difference between modernity and modernism, as Modernity is referred to three distinct phases as it refer to the time period, whereas modernism refers to trends in culture, art and social relations that are referred to be a part of the modern world.
The third phase of Modernism is understood as a philosophical, cultural and artistic movement that emerged around the end of the nineteenth century from 1890s till the end of the Second World War.
It rejected the visual arts, literature, music and drama of old Victorian age.
This op-ed purports to elucidate the theme with a birds-eye view of ideas of modernism, its tenets and lastly, end with the critique.
What is modernism?
The premise of modernism theory goes back to the period of the Enlightenment movement that began in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that purports for the superiority of human reason over conventional institutions, blind faith and supernatural ideals, that became a landmark for the emergence of modernity.
It is also related to developing man’s capacity to reason, think and act logically to make objective decisions that are free from personal bias, emotion and traditional values.
This began with the European discovery and emergence of a printing press.
Therefore, Renaissance helped to the rise of modernity, where human reason, science and technology expanded their influence during that century.
This movement saw every person as an autonomous individual who needed to be liberated from traditional social and religious thought and move towards independent thinking and act accordingly.
Humans started to question, challenge and doubt the existing norms. Their development centred on the growth of modern sciences and established the pursuit of truth, certainty and universal laws.
These ideas were propagated through the works of various thinkers like Voltaire, Descartes, Montesquieu, Diderot, Kant and Hegel.
The movement is considered to be associated with industrial prosperity and fall in the values/beliefs of superstitions, religion and other traditional thoughts.
This ideology put forward a vision of a unified world, humanity with shared goals by endorsing the ideas of the enlightenment.
It was thought to be the end of the Middle Ages or Feudalism in Europe, as it ushered the age of considering reason and rationality as supreme, where myth and religion shall not play any role in shaping social values.
It has resulted in a rise of freedom and a life devoid of dread of mortality.
Modernism attempts to examine the impediments that hold the society back by supporting a period of change and challenging orthodoxy. They put forward a progressive view towards the society by breaking by eradicating the constraints of irrational traditions of the past.
The movement put forward the idea of ‘self-consciousness’. This resulted in an explosion of new ideas in architecture, philosophy, economy and way of living to replace the traditional structure, customs, social bonds and beliefs.
Rationality was imbued to develop an attitude of progress towards everything.
Western developments of the industrial revolution and capitalism principles aided the ideology of modernism.
This ushered to a modern age of cultural and social life, and in works of art and literature that implied new innovative ideas in their domains.
Prime protagonists of Modernism were the works that came from Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Henry James, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and others. Their literary and artistic work expressed the notion of rationality, freedom and liberation from the earlier times.
Besides the philosophical ideas, modernity led to the rise of material forces such as the birth of modern industries, capitalism and new kind of social relations in 19th century Europe.
Industrial society is characterised by commercialisation, rationalisation, urbanisation, bureaucratisation, as well as secularisation.
During the mid-19 century, modernism transformed the old shackles of Middle Ages’ society, polity and economy towards the rise of a modern system.
Emergence and expansion of modernisation also brought hardships for craftsmen, peasants and labourers, especially in the colonised nations of Asia, Africa, Oceania and Latin America.
These nations noticed the European colonizers exterminated indigenous peoples, captured their land and looted the benefits from their economy. Consequences of imperialism led to a disastrous impact on life of colonized life and resources.
Conclusion: The Benefits and Drawbacks of Modernity
The movement has benefited from making low infant mortality rate, controlling fatal diseases, giving equal treatment of individuals from diverse origin and economic levels, less death due to starvation, adoption of rational and scientific approach and pursuit of economic riches has helped to solve social problems. The negative impact is technological misuse in military sector and the development of weapons in the postwar period.
The danger of technology to handled wisely by humans is a huge concern—additionally, environmental challenges due to modernity like pollution and climatic change.
Psychological drawbacks are alienation, sense of rootlessness, disillusionment and loss of a bond relationship, loss of human dignity and nature, loss of traditional values.
Critics of modernity were raised in the post-modern phase. The wisdom of readers to understand these concepts in a comprehensive manner will make them more mindful of historical discourses.
- DR SAKUL KUNDRA is an assistant professor in history and acting Head of School, School of Arts and Humanities, College of Humanities and Education, at Fiji National University. The views expressed are his own and not of this newspaper. For comments or suggestions,
email. dr.sakulkundra@gmail.com
