16 Terms From Modernity

The ideology, patterns of thinking and actions/ practices/ acts of people changed throughout history. It will keep changing, but during the 19th to the 20th century, the changes were nearly quite diverse and fast. We will explore 16 terms that relate to such changes. Still, first, we should know that -ism is used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, usage or characteristic, devotion or adherence, etc. While -tion is used to form nouns meaning “the action of (a verb)” or “the result of (a verb)”.

Bureaucracy

It is the complications of systems and processes to maintain uniformity and control over an organisation. It is the addition of layers and layers of systems, divisions, processes, departments, etc. That slows down the decision-making step but, in return, will maintain control and consistent uniformity.

Rationalisation

It explains and justifies attitudes and actions logically, even if they are not. For example, slave traders on slavery during the 18th and 19th centuries. Modern types of rationalisation can be ‘sour grapes’ when avoiding difficult information, and ‘sweet lemons’ is an explanation that attempts to soften the bitter taste of a situation. It has its roots in mathematics, but we are concerned with its societal and literary elemental value. It can be practical, theoretical, substantive, or formal.

Alienation

It is the distancing of anything or anyone. It is a literary device usually used in the theatre when the play’s characters, setting, or plot devices are intentionally distanced so the audience won’t trust or identify with the storyline. However, when associated with modernism, it relates to modernist art and the associations and meanings of indifference it came to embody throughout history, as humans were not able to establish meaningful relationships with others or themselves. It is the distancing effect and estrangement effect.

Commodification

It is the act of treating nearly anything or anyone as a salable commodity. Especially evident within a capitalist economic system. Abstract ideas, organs, humans, or anything can be commodified with this act or fact, as we can trace back in history in human trafficking or treating even humans as a commodity, as could be traced in Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Decontextualisation

It is when you remove something out of its context. Emphasising how context can be a crucial factor in giving a particular meaning. Mostly referring to utterances, texts, or artworks.

Individualism

It is all about yourself, taking care of yourself, and practising the belief that every person is unique and self-reliant. This belief has implications in that a person believes that the government is rooted in individual affairs. Noting that individual societies prioritise the needs of an individual over the group, relating back to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Rationalism

It is one of the many patterns or methods of thinking that came to be throughout history. It depends on deductive and abstract reasoning, where the thinker tends to relate everything and anything back to reason to prove how it plays a huge role in a person’s life. It relies on the belief that reason is innate, and so is conceptualisation.

Urbanisation

It is when the numbers of people living in the towns and cities increase as they leave the countryside, normally referred to as rural areas, to the towns and cities known as urban areas. It usually takes place when a country is still under development.

Objectivism

The Russian-American philosopher Ayn Rand developed this philosophical system Assuming a person as the protagonist and hero of their own life and looking to achieve their own happiness as the moral purpose of human existence in relation to facts and reality.

Universalism

It is the belief in the salvation of all souls. Thus, it generalises the application of all forms of norms, values, and concepts to all people and cultures, regardless of context.

Reductionism

It is the act of oversimplification by breaking it down into smaller pieces and that dissolves how complicated it may have appeared.

Homogenous

Homogeneous is an adjective that describes similar or uniform characteristics.

Democratisation

It is when a political regime becomes democratic, and such practice spreads radically in the mid-20th century. Scholars debated over the number of waves such act was carried out as it has traces in the 19th century, to WWII, and up to the beginning of the mid-1970s in southern Europe.

Mechanisation

It is the act or process of starting to do something that was previously done by hand or relying on the efforts of a machine rather than a person. Artificial intelligence is arguably taking over in many aspects nowadays and is arguably an act of mechanisation.

Mass Society

A society that consists of disconnected groups of people who are controlled by institutions. Individuals are detached and estranged from one another. No cultural diversity nor connectedness can be traced in such societies. It was pretty evident in the early nineteenth century, especially between the Industrial and French Revolutions.

Totalitarianism

A government imposing absolute centralised control over all aspects of life.

Finally, to modernise is to receive both sides of the coin of history, leaving no pick and choose for scholars. The modern age of constant change was reflected in the acts of the people and state at the time and in the individuals themselves and their beliefs.