5 C’s Assignment

Posted: March 27th, 2020

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

5 C’s Assignment

            Chapter 13 of the assigned reading text discusses the industrial age, which was characterized by a movement from realism to modernism. Cultural and artistic traditions were challenged in this period in favor of progress and materialism. The new attributes were exemplified by embracing modernity and the adoption of new technologies, questioning traditions, alienation, and criticizing the cost of advancement. The industrial revolution created two new economic classes of people in society: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The industrial age was typified by the belief that science, industrialization, and technology could be used to identify the truth, to solve all problems, and to achieve the highest human potential possible.

            The industrial age demonstrates a movement away from other previous topics covered earlier because it represents the progenitors of today’s modern world. Rapid advances in science and technology characterized the industrial age; aspects that can be construed to have created new notions about people’s potential to achieve grand fetes that were previously thought impossible (Toffler 127). Unlike conservationism, which was pervasive during the Victorian age, the industrial age promoted utilitarianism and realism that emanated from scholars and philosophers such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. The academics and thinkers hypothesized that people and society should choose actions that conferred the greatest pleasure for the most people. Modernity was portrayed through realism in visual arts and literature to depict the ordinary world in a style that can be described as a sober detachment from reality.   

            The industrial age discussed in the chapter focused on realism as an artistic movement; both in visual arts and literature as illustrated by the works of Charles Dickens, in his novel titled “Oliver Twist,” where he explores the consequences of industrialization and civilization. Unlike previous periods such as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, the industrial age prompted people to ask hard questions about the net effect of industrialization and modernity on society (Patten 73). Previous eras focused on veiling the true nature of people’s lives and thoughts by projecting an aura of affluence that was only enjoyed by a few elites in society at the expense of the poor. The observation does not negate the fact that these inequalities did not exist in the industrial age. In fact, the unfair and unjust stratification of society became even more pronounced in the industrial age, but at the same time, people were capable of denouncing and highlighting these attributes through art and literature.

            Notions and insights garnered from the discussion in chapter 13 will be instrumental in informing my future decisions regarding how to handle situations of severe inequality and oppression in society. Artists such as Charles Dickens demonstrated that individuals could articulate issues bedeviling society regardless of the need for drastic measures such as violent revolutions (Veblen 146). Additionally, the intellectuals formed new insight that has proven instrumental in the development of contemporary ethical and legal frameworks. Interestingly, the industrial age did not discount all other previous artistic or philosophical movements, but it refined some and assimilated others suitable for the modern world.

            The industrial age, in my opinion, was and is still an age that will change the fortunes of humanity for the best or for the worst depending on the choices that people make. New technological and scientific innovations are revolutionizing the art world with digital technology such as three-dimensional (3D) printing. Novel channels of communication and expression are bound to change society’s response and reaction to art.

Works Cited

Patten, Robert L. Charles Dickens, and ‘Boz’: The Birth of the Industrial-Age Author. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Toffler, Alvin. “Revolutionary Wealth.” New Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 30, no.4, 2013, pp. 122-130.

Veblen, Thorstein. The Instinct of Workmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts. Routledge, 2017.