Modernity

We explain what modernity and the changes it produced since the fifteenth century. In addition, what are its characteristics.

What is modernity?

Modernity is a set of social and intellectual processes that emerged in Europe from the fifteenth centuryat the beginning of the Renaissance, and that marked the end of the Middle Ages.

Together with individualism, the scientific method and changes in thought (which prioritized rationality), occurred political changes that deeply modified state institutions, as well as the delimitation of political and economic borders.

Although modernity changes occurred gradually, they affected social life, work, inhabited space, power relations, aesthetic experiences, etc.

See also: Modern Age

Characteristics of modernity

• Modernity arose as a social and intellectual phenomenon in Western Europe in the fifteenth century. Coincided with the beginning of the Modern Age and extended later to most of the world.
• In intellectual terms, modernity meant the abandonment of religious orthodoxy in the way of understanding the universe and intervening in the world, and its replacement for reason, logic and scientific method.
• The emphasis placed by modernity in the critical and rational individual It was related in the field of thought and art with the abandonment of theocentrism in favor of anthropocentrism, manifest in humanism and rebirth. The effects of the Protestant reform may also have contributed to support this emphasis on the individual.
• In political terms, modernity meant the conformation of nation states and the deployment of political ideologies that encouraged the division of powers, such as liberalism.
• Modernity was related to the Transoceanic expansioninnovations in communication and transport and the establishment of a world economy based on trade and colonial domination. This process promoted the development of an industrial society in whose cities the social inequalities of capitalism were reflected, especially since the nineteenth century.
• The intellectual foundations of modernity They were put into discussion from the mid -twentieth centuryby the movement known as postmodernism.

Historical context

The term “modernity” applies to a series of phenomena that took place in Western Europe from the fifteenth century and then expanded worldwide. Its emergence coincides with the beginning of the Modern Agethat some historians place in the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453 and others in the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America in 1492.

Anyway, some of the characteristics that define modernity They have a history in the final era of the Middle Ages (such as humanism) and others reach contemporary age (for example, emphasis on reason and scientific method). Modern thinking in the West began to be questioned in the mid -twentieth century by exponents of the so -called postmodernism.

Modern thinking

Reason and logic

Reason as opposite to religion is one of the axes of modern thoughteloquently expressed in the ideas of illustration. From the modern age, religion ceased to be the only discourse for the explanation of the world, and science was established as a method to understand natural and human phenomena.

The myth was replaced by logic And this had not only an impact on philosophy and science but also politics and economy, as well as the formulation of an ideal of progress that endured until the twentieth century.

Subjectivity, the basis of reason, became central to modern thought. Individual reflection allowed criticism and self -realization, and promoted personal responsibility. This influenced the appearance of liberal thought and the new forms of political organization that were implemented since the end of the 18th century (especially republican democracies).

The rupture with tradition

Modernity It was characterized in the beginning by the desire for a break with the previousembodied in tradition. In art and thought, the background was not sought in the next past (the Middle Ages) but in the remote past (the old age). This recovery of aspects of classical Greco -Roman culture is usually called Renaissance, and its most obvious dimension was experienced in art.

Out of that ancient reference, modernity It is usually characterized by attraction by innovations and discoveries. The scientific method is one of the most eloquent expressions of this disruptive trend that prioritizes the use of observation, logic and experimentation over the weight of authority and tradition (for example, against ecclesiastical orthodoxy).

Protestant reform

Protestant reform was a Christian religious movement initiated in Germany in the 16th century by theologian Martin Luther and that had exponents and variations in other places in Europe. The Catholic Church was divided by the criticisms that various priests and thinkers made to the institution, especially in opposition to the absolute authority of the Pope and corruption linked to the sale of indulgences.

This movement proposed a return to primitive Christianity and he postulated that salvation depended exclusively on faith and personal repentance. For this reason, it is believed that it contributed to the secularization process promoted by humanism and the scientific method, characteristic of modernity, focused on the individual as a critical and rational being.

The political organization

Nation states

Since the beginning of the Modern Age, political-territorial structures similar to those that currently exist began to be delimited in Europe. A state-nation has:

• A defined territory
• A constant population (although there are migratory phenomena)
• A bureaucracy
• A centralized government

The first impulse towards the configuration of modern states occurred in Europe as part of the decomposition of the feudal regime, which was dominant during the Middle Ages.

The European order focused on national states led to a large extent from the Peace of Westfalia signed in 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years War. Through this treaty, Several European governments admitted the principles of territorial sovereignty of the states. Subsequently, the idea of ​​national sovereignty was strengthened following liberal thinking and historical events such as the French Revolution.

The division of powers

The form of government of the feudal monarchies had a single ruler who concentrated power in his person. Power was legitimized by offspring, war power or church.

Modernity introduced the division of powers into the State according to the political principles of enlightenment and liberalism. Today this division is in force in large part of state societies and understands:

• The Executive Power. Design or execute policies and apply laws.
• The Legislative Power. Debate and sanctions laws that must be applied by the Executive Power.
• The Judiciary. Manages justice through the application of legal laws and norms.

The bureaucracy

The administration of modern states became increasingly dependent on a sustained rationality in a large staff. In this way the so -called “bureaucracy.” Who integrate it work in public entities that are responsible for maintaining the daily functioning of the State. In its beginnings, the bureaucracy used to be integrated by sectors of the bourgeoisie.

Modern economy

Conquest of America and colonial expansion

The European discovery and the subsequent conquest of America, whose lands were inhabited by native populationswere some of the triggers of modernity, but also some of its symptoms: the journey to the American continent was a fortuitous result of the scientific calculation that the earth was spherical (whose background went back to classical antiquity).

Besides, It was motivated by commercial expansion purposesown need for an economic model that gave rise to the globalization of economy and capitalism.

The arrival to a continent previously unknown by the Europeans allowed these to exploit new resources and labor (sometimes slave) and the establishment of colonial relations. The Atlantic Commercial Axis and other transoceanic exploration trips contributed to the expansion not only of economic relations but also of cultural and political patterns.

Innovations in communication and transport of the late Modern Age and beginnings of contemporary age facilitated the accumulation and circulation of wealth. This benefited the industrial and commercial bourgeoisies of the great European powers, which later also encouraged economic development and the appearance of new forms of social inequality in other regions of the world.

See also: colonization of America

The industrial society

The change from a rural society to an industrial society was gradually, but not less decisive. The Industrial Revolution (which began at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the nineteenth century) gave an impulse to this process that modified the world economy and the physiognomy of the cities.

The characteristics of this type of society that appeared with modernity are:

• The increase in production through the organization and division of labor.
• The development of factories where the work was organized.
• The invention and manufacture of machines that replaced manual work. This is an antecedent of technological innovations aimed at increasing benefits that are still in force today, in which scientific and technological developments are constantly applied to production.
• The appearance of a new social sector, employees, and strengthening an industrial bourgeoisie.

Industrial society required a population concentration since the work was organized in factories.

The cities became production centers but simultaneously in the places of greater consumption of goods, services and energy. These cities depended, in turn, on the primary food production that took place in the fields.

The social inequalities that became patents in the big industrial cities of the nineteenth century influenced the emergence of political movements that questioned the social effects of capitalism (especially socialism).

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References

• “The four parts of the world. History of a globalization” Economic Culture Fund. Gruzinski, S. (2011).
• “The Making of the West. Peoples and Cultures.” Hunt, L., Martin, Tr, Rosenwein, BH & Smith, BG (2016). 5th Edition. BEDFORD/ST. Martin’s.
• “Modernity” British Encyclopedia. Snyder, SL (2016).