Drastic Change in the Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century was a time of great change. With the transpiration of the French and Industrial revolutions, the world saw a dramatic influx of the metropolitan population and the necessary goods and services required for this way of life. This shift in societal organization brought forth many movements including liberalism, socialism, imperialism, and conservatism. These -isms sprung forth during a time when great pride in one’s country and an overall sense of patriotism ran rampant through all country’s involved in these transformative revolutions.

Ironically, socialism was originally born out of a sense of individualism. Two camps formed in the nineteenth century– the big government and the proletariat. The proletariat of the time wished to attain general equality. A prime example of socialism at work were “strikes and the consequent disturbance of trade” (Sombart 67). With the rise of individuality, conservatism began to rear its head in the form of Whig opposition, “in other words, “objection to the effects of modern commercial society” (Berger 215). Liberalism, on the other hand, is the blending of “the sharp opposition of capitalism and unionism” (Filler xxii). Imperialism was a product of power-hungry officials, and it was always about more than “guns and goods; it was also a cultural process involving resistance to and accommodation of forces or entities attempting to achieve hegemonic control over specific geographic spaces” (Hevia 3).  It comes as no surprise, then, that the social circumstances of the nineteenth century served as a breeding ground for strict opposition of individual thought. With such strong and distinct societal shift constantly occurring, the winds of change were set in motion and brought forth the spirit of individualism necessary to promote positive change in the human condition. Unfortunately, on the way to great change, sacrifices and disagreements must always transpire. 

Works Cited

Berger, Stefan. A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Europe, 1789-1914. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Print.

Filler, Louis. Late Nineteenth-Century American Liberalism: Representative Selections, 1880-1900. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1962. Print.

Hevia, James Louis. English lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century China. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003. Print.

Sombart, Werner. Socialism and the Social Movement. New York: A.M. Kelley, 1968. Print.