MODERN SOCIETY

Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, laying the basis of the rules of western morality. The world has changed a great deal since then, but, in a social sense as opposed to religious dogma, regardless of time, culture or creed, no one has come up with a better principle. But the history of man seems to be one of flagrant contravention of those ideals. But is this still the case?

PROTEST MOVEMENTS

Due to trade and technology the powers of destruction rise in kind with advancement and culture. Hence the two great conflagrations of the last century. But since 1945 there has been a profound change in man.
With the immense social problems following the Industrial Revolution and massive rise in city population social needs eventually began to take prominence in the eyes of governments.
Due to this notice, peaceful movements of reform began.
Perhaps the first major reform was equality for women, but following World War Two ethnic equality rose as an issue. In America activists such as Martin Luther King spearheaded the movement, leading to equal status for blacks in most civilised countries today.
Many such minorities would disagree, but the greatest freedom you can achieve is the right to vote.

YOUTH CULTURE

Youth also looked for better standards, moving on from the naive feelings of relief following World War One which surfaced in the Charleston, to great rock and roll and eventually modern popular music forged by Elvis Presley and bands such as The Beatles.
They were saying, ‘hey, remember us’. The advent of mass media, bringing moving pictures to the homes straight from the battlefields of Vietnam inspired the youth to a plea for peace. They didn’t want the conflagrations that had been the lot of all past generations. They wanted peace, no matter how naive that was seen in political terms.
Failure to achieve their aims led to the drop out in the same way as social injustice in the previous century had led to the Romantic. And on the other end of the scale, it led to mass movements of nuclear disarmament.

CHANGING THINGS

Imbued with this spirit of protest, other anomalies of life were heightened. Ecology came to the fore as people realised what our industrial trend was doing to nature around us; a fact that must eventually lead to a cleaner industrial might, but technology just the same.
Despite the occasional conflict which will always occur, despite the problems of crime and drugs in all modern societies, at the dawn of the 21st century we have seen a change in the attitude of man.
We seem to be no longer satisfied with our lot. We are all, at heart, reformers now, even if we also have a tendency to be apolitical. The Humanist is in every one of us. Politics has become the individual, trying to find his harmony with the world.

A GLOBAL VILLAGE

Why is this? Perhaps because there is no other area of land to colonise, and we can talk to the other side of the planet by logging on to the internet. In a word, we could well be bored by lack of stimulus, our individuality and consumerism the only thing of value. So does this mean our pattern of history is exhausted?
No. But it is, perhaps, on the point of transition.
In 1945 the United Nations came into being. Since then we hear politicians talk of limited wars. It appears we can now contain our major aggressions with increasing success. At first this occurred through fear of nuclear destruction, but now it seems to have become a habit.
Yes, troubles still exist around the world. People power came to a sticky end in China in Tienenman Square. The former Yugoslavia is held together only by massive military intervention, Islamic fundamentalism has produced a new type of terrorist, reacting wrongly to otherwise justified grievances against the west.
Power struggles still go on in the Middle East fuelled by the importance of oil. But this is countered by the fall of Soviet communism, an annoyance concerning failure to answer the Palestinian question, and new found freedoms in South Africa, not to mention the new awareness that led to Live Aid.

PROBLEMS REMAIN

Perhaps the human race has already become the peaceful global community, the ravages of war being the last cry of the imperialist.
But on the other hand we seem to face immense psychological ills, and in society political correctness and anti-intellectualism suggests we still fear the future and are unsure of who we are.
Throughout society AIDS ravages, drug abuse fragments, the role of family and gender itself is under threat, a new consumer middleclass rises on the back of a disenfranchised underclass, and the Nation State is itself under threat to a new capitalist globalism which seems to have no direction but to produce and sell.
In government, ideology is abandoned to be replaced by that dangerous ultimate ethic of mundane problem-solving, fearful of anything revolutionary. As to a new ethos, this is science and its latest expression, genetics. But whilst it has given us major technological advances, can science ever be enough? Or has science itself assisted in our insecurity?
In the last post next week, we will discuss this possibility.

(c) Anthony North, March 2008

Click History of Man on Blogroll for more posts in this series