Modernity

Quick Facts: Who was Modernity?

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Modernity

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A complex socio-cultural concept spanning from the Enlightenment to contemporary global shifts.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissance—in the Age of Reason of 17th-century thought and the 18th-century Enlightenment. Commentators variously consider the era of modernity to have ended by 1930, with World War II in 1945, or as late as the period falling between the 1980s and 1990s; the following era is often referred to as "postmodernity". The term "contemporary history" is also used to refer to the post-1945 timeframe, without assigning it to either the modern or postmodern era. (Thus "modern" may be used as a name of a particular era in the past, as opposed to meaning "the current era".) Depending on the field, modernity may refer to different time periods or qualities. In historiography, the 16th to 18th centuries are usually described as early modern, while the long 19th century corresponds to modern history proper.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

While it includes a wide range of interrelated historical processes and cultural phenomena (from fashion to modern warfare), it can also refer to the subjective or existential experience of the conditions they produce, and their ongoing impact on human culture, institutions, and politics. As an analytical concept and normative idea, modernity is closely linked to the ethos of philosophical and aesthetic modernism. These political and intellectual currents that intersect with the Enlightenment and subsequent developments, including existentialism, modern art, the formal establishment of social science, and contemporaneous antithetical developments such as Marxism. Additionally, it encompasses the social relations associated with the rise of capitalism, as well as shifts in attitudes associated with secularization, liberalization, modernization, and post-industrial life. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, modernist art, politics, science and culture had come to dominate not only Western Europe and North America, but almost every populated area on the globe, including movements opposing the West or opposing globalization.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The modern era is closely associated with the development of individualism, capitalism, urbanization and progressivism—that is, the belief in the possibilities of technological and political progress. Perceptions of problems arising from modernization, which can include the advent of world wars, the reduced role of religion in some societies, or the erosion of traditional cultural norms, have also led to anti-modernization movements. Optimism and the belief in consistent progress (also referred to as whig history) have been subject to criticism in postmodern thought, while the global hegemonic dominance (particularly in the form of imperialism and colonialism) of various powers in western Europe and Anglo-America for most of the period has been criticized in postcolonial theory. In the context of art history, modernity (Fr. modernité) has a more limited sense, modern art covering the period of c. 1860–1970. Use of the term in this sense is attributed to Charles Baudelaire, who in his 1863 essay "The Painter of Modern Life", designated the "fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis", and the responsibility art has to capture that experience.

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1863: 1863 Milestone — Use of the term in this sense is attributed to Charles Baudelaire, who in his 1863 essay "The Painter of Modern Life", designated the "fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis", and the responsibility art has to capture that experience.
2. 1930: 1930 Milestone — Commentators variously consider the era of modernity to have ended by 1930, with World War II in 1945, or as late as the period falling between the 1980s and 1990s; the following era is often referred to as "postmodernity".
3. 1945: 1945 Milestone — The term "contemporary history" is also used to refer to the post-1945 timeframe, without assigning it to either the modern or postmodern era.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Modernity

True or False: “Modernity is exclusively defined by the period between the Enlightenment and World War I.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): The concept spans much wider, encompassing early modern periods (16th-18th centuries) and continuing into later phases like late modernity.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Adolf Wölfli — Historical peer (Died in 1930) (1930): Swiss outsider artist known for meticulous, symbolic, and autobiographical works.
• Adonis (poet) — Historical peer (Born in 1930) (1930): Pioneering Syrian poet, essayist, and translator who revolutionized modern Arabic verse.
• Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi — Historical peer (Born in 1945) (1945): Yemeni politician who served as the second President of Yemen from 2012 to 2022.
• Adolf Hitler — Historical peer (Died in 1945) (1945): Austrian-born German politician who became dictator of Germany during the Nazi era.
• Aleksey Khomyakov — Historical peer (Died in 1860) (1860): Founding theoretician of the Slavophile movement in Russian philosophy.
• Alphonse Mucha — Historical peer (Born in 1860) (1860): Master of Art Nouveau, famed for decorative posters and The Slav Epic.
• A. H. M. Jones — Historical peer (Died in 1970) (1970): Pioneering British historian of classical antiquity, specializing in the later Roman Empire.
• Abraham Maslow — Historical peer (Died in 1970) (1970): Pioneering American psychologist known for the Hierarchy of Needs and self-actualization theory.
• Alexandre Yersin — Historical peer (Born in 1863) (1863): Pioneering Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist, renowned for plague and diphtheria research.
• Alfred de Vigny — Historical peer (Died in 1863) (1863): French poet and early Romanticist, known for his plays and novels.

Frequently Asked Questions about Modernity