Social, Intellectual and Cultural Thresholds

1. Social, Intellectual and Cultural Thresholds 1914 - PRESENT

2. Gender • Feminism and equal rights • Early century: World War I saw Western women get vote • Status of women changed dramatically after WWII in industrialized states • Women mobilized to support war; some actually fought in war • Women demanded full equality with men, access to education and employment • Birth control enables women to control their bodies and avoid "biology destiny" • U.N. Declaration of Women’s Rights officially grant women international rights • U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids discrimination on basis of race or sex • In Western Europe, US, Oceania women entered politics, board rooms • Gender equality in Communist Countries? • Communist states often improved women's legal status • Despite legal reforms, women have not yet gained true equality • In USSR, Eastern Europe many women entered medicine, science but second to men • In China, one-child policy encourages infanticide or abandonment of baby girls • The Developing World: Africa, SW Asia • Decolonization often as much from colonizing country as husbands, males • Domesticity and abuse restricting rights of women • Women in Arab and Muslim societies twice as likely as men to be illiterate • Most Indian women illiterate (75 perecent in 1980s) and confined at home • "Dowry deaths" common in India; burning of wives in Pakistan • Women leaders in South Asia • Effective political leaders: Indira Gandhi (India) and Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan) • Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga became president of Sri Lanka, 1994 • Democratic activist Aung Sang Suu Kyi • Received Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 when under house arrest in Myanmar • Seeks democracy in Burma • UN launched a Decade for Women program in 1975 • Latin America, Japan, Little Tigers beginning to follow early 20th century West

3. SOCIAL REFORMS, SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS • Feminism • Defined: Women should enjoy equal rights in • Society, law, business, government • Decisions about their bodies especially abortion, birth control • The Issue • By 1920s: Women have the vote but this is not equality • By 1940s: Latin American women generally have the vote • Opposition to feminism came from both left, right • Left felt women would vote conservative, listen to their husbands • Right felt women would be liberals, vote to change society • Post War Europe saw the rise of feminism • Simone de Beauvoir: society oppresses women, creates differences • 1960s • Feminism becomes a middle class movement • Pill, right to work and education helped movement • NOW: National Organization of Women (USA) • Pressed for legislation to end discrimination towards women • 1973: Roe v. Wade made abortion legal and strengthened women’s movement • Presses for equal access to jobs • Runs up against the glass ceiling • An artificial barrier women cannot pass into management • Women not entering the board rooms (CEOs), senior government positions

4. Women around the world • East Asia • China • Communists push women into society • Women are comrades aiding the revolution • True also of USSR, Eastern Europe; to a lesser extend also true in Vietnam, North Korea • In China • 1960s Cultural Revolution pushed this idea • 1980s economic liberalization seems to have hurt progress • Japan • Meiji women entered workforce (2/3 of work force); poor conditions • World War II • Women enter into all workforces to free up men for army • This is true of every major combatant in World War II (US, UK, USSR, Germany) • US Occupation changed Japanese society beginning in 1945 • US insisted on equal rights, women’s vote, equal pay • Women enter grassroots politics, consumer groups, environmental issues • Religious States • Muslim states • Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Malaya, Pakistan, Libya saw some positive changes • Muslim states ruled by Communists, USSR saw progress but only to a certain level • Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia so no significant changes and experienced some decline • Christian societies • Divorce, ownership of property allowed; control of bodies (birth control, abortion) opposed • Many Catholic societies repeatedly blocked abortion, divorce • Attempts to liberalize repeatedly drew intervention of the Church, Pope • True of much of Latin America, African countries, Philippines, Catholic Europe • Protestant fundamentalist forces in the US, Latin America opposed liberalized women’s rights

5. Broad References • 19th Century: Era of Transportation • 20th Century: Era of Telecommunications • Newspapers: 1890s • Radios, Movies, Teletypes: 1920s • News magazines, journals: 1930s • Television: 1950s • Personal Computers, Fax: 1980s • Internet, World Wide Web, Email: 1990s • Cell Phones: 1990s • Mechanization of the Home • Major aspect of consumerism • Began with electrification of 1910s, 1920s • Refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum machines • Home computers, microwaves, advanced entertainment • Service Industries • Largest sector of Western economies is now service related • Service industries are retail, entertainment, sales, technology support

6. Early Century • Post World War I 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 • 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

7. After WW II mostly American • 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 (The Second Sex) and Betty Friedan (The Feminine Mystique) 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

8. 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 Peon (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

9. 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

14. Internet Connections

15. McDonald’s in Tokyo