INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL FRONTIERS

1. INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL FRONTIERS 1914 - PRESENT

2. POST-WAR PESSIMISM • The "lost generation" • Term described pessimism of U.S., European thinkers after the war • Postwar poetry, fiction reflected disillusionment with western culture • Scholars--Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee--lamented decline of west • Religious thought reflected uncertainty and pessimism • Karl Barth attacked liberal Christian theology embracing idea of progress • Older concepts of original sin and human depravity revived • Attacks on the ideal of progress • Science tarnished by the technological horrors of World War I • Most western societies granted suffrage to all men and women • Many intellectuals disillusioned with democracy • Conservatives decried "the rule of inferiors

3. INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTIONS • Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, 1906 • Space and time relative to the person measuring them • Implication: reality or truth merely a set of mental constructions • Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, 1927 • Impossible to state position, velocity of a subatomic particle at same time • Atomic universe indeterminate; can only speak of probabilities • Challenged long-held assumptions about truth, cause and effect • Freud's psychoanalytic theory, 1896 • Conflict between conscious and unconscious mental processes • Sought psychological causes of mental illness • Sexual repression frequent cause of neuroses • Freud's ideas shaped psychiatric profession, influenced literature and arts • Modern painting • When photography can reproduce nature, why should painting? • Painters like Pablo Picasso sought freedom of expression, emotional expression • Borrowed from artistic traditions of Asia, Pacific, and Africa • No widely accepted standards of good or bad art • Modern architecture: the Bauhaus school started in Germany, 1920 • An international style for twentieth-century urban buildings • Walter Gropius: form should follow function; combined engineering and art • Simple shapes, steel frames, and walls of glass • International style dominated urban landscapes well after 1930s

4. AMERICAN SOCIETY POST-1945 • Domestic containment • U.S. leaders held families to be best defense against communism • Women discouraged from working, should stay home and raise kids • Senator McCarthy led attack against suspected communists in United States • Increasing pressure to conform, retreat to home and family • Female liberation movement a reaction to postwar domesticity • Working women unhappy with new cult of domesticity • Writers Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan reflected women's dissatisfaction • Some feminists used Marxist language, argued for "women's liberation" • Black nationalism in United States, Caribbean, and emerging states of Africa • Influenced by Jamaicans, singer Bob Marley, nationalist Marcus Garvey • Martin Luther King Jr. inspired by Gandhi's nonviolent methods • The U.S. civil rights movement emerged from cold war • USSR critical of United States for treatment of African-Americans • African-Americans organized in protest of southern segregation • 1954, U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated education was unconstitutional • Rosa Parks started boycott of Montgomery buses, led by M. L. King, 1955 • Cold war consumerism • Socialist countries could not match United States in material wealth, consumer goods • Stark contrasts between economies of western and eastern Europe • Marshall Plan infused western Europe with aid, increased standard of living • The space race exemplified U.S.-Soviet competition in science and technology • Soviet gained nuclear weapons, then intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) • Soviets launched Sputnik, first satellite, 1957 • Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, first man to orbit the earth, 1961 • American space program followed; John Glenn orbited, 1962 • President Kennedy established NASA; United States put man on the moon, 1969 • Peaceful coexistence somewhat improved after Stalin's death, 1953 • Slight relaxation of censorship under Khrushchev • Both sides feared nuclear confrontation • Khrushchev visited United States in 1959, put a human face on communism

5. CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGES • Global Barbie • Western consumerism becoming a global phenomenon • Sara versus Barbie in Iran • Barbie seen as a threat to Islamic values, symbol of cultural imperialism • Iranian dolls, Sara and her brother Dara (an Islamic cleric), are modest alternatives • Barbie in Japan • Image of Barbie unsettling, Mattel created a younger doll for Japanese market • Whereas Iranians reject image of Barbie, Japanese adjust Barbie to their aesthetic • Consumption and cultural interaction • Global culture of consumption • Satisfies wants and desires rather than needs or necessities • Homogenization of global culture: blue jeans, Coca-Cola, McDonalds • Western icons often replace local businesses and indigenous cultures • Brand names also identify local products, for example, Swiss Rolex, Perrier, Armani • Pan-American culture competes with United States • Eva Pe_on (Evita) has become a pop icon in Argentina and beyond • Latin American societies blended foreign and indigenous cultural practices • The age of access • Globalization minimizes social, economic, and political isolation • Preeminence of English language • Critics: mass media become a vehicle of cultural imperialism • Internet is an information colony, with English hegemony • China attempts a firewall to control Internet information • Adaptations of technology in authoritarian states • Zaire television showed dictator Mobutu Sese Seko walking on clouds • Vietnam and Iraq limit access to foreign servers on Internet

6. POP CULTURE • Leisure time allowed for development of mass entertainment • Technology led to syncretic blend of world artistic traditions • Globalizing Art and Culture • Fine art vs. pop(ular) art • Distinction blurred • National distinctions largely gone • Interconnections, exchanges without war • Music • Probably greatest aspect of Globalization • Syncretic World Beat: Classical, African, ethnic influences led to Jazz, Blues, Rock • Popularity of Beatles, ABBA, Ladysmith Black Mazembo around world • Movies • Technological wonder born of marriage between photography, art, music • Hollywood and Bollywood dominate production of world movies • Sports • Outgrowth of British interest in competitive sports, 1895 Olympic revival • 1920s/1950s: Baseball, basketball spreads wherever Americans live, stationed • 1930s: Popularity of soccer spreads from Europe to Latin America • Today perhaps the primary world wide entertainment: 2 billion watch Olympics