This Fleeting World: Ch3 p. 67-77

Page 67: Our World: The Modern Era

- briefest but most turbulent of 3       era's - lasted 250 years - change: more rapid and                   fundamental - most interconnected - new ideas and technologies =         global village - sharp increase in innovation 

- NT enhanced human control and stimulated rapid PG- transformed cultural tradition,         patterns of health/aging, and           social and political relationships - to close to see objectively (we are   subjective to modern era

Page 68: Our World: The Modern Era (2)

- to close to see modern era objectively - difficulty distinguishing trends from details - change has occurred faster and embraced whole world  KEY FEATURES AND TRENDS OF MODERN ERA- rapid population growth  

Page 69: Key Features and Trends (2)

 - new technologies were discovered and introduced - agriculture: kept paced because of    * improved crop rotations   * increased use of irrigation    * widespread application of                 artificial fertilizers    * use of genetically modified               crops 

- increase in human numbers was possible only because productivity increased faster - learned to harvest the huge reserves of energy stored in fossil      fuel    * coal, oil, natural gases - exploit the power lurking within atomic nuclei 

Page70: Populations effect on Government

- increased population led to increased size of communities      > development in  employment- world's population lived in communities of 5000- rapid decline of villages marked transformation to modern life- support themselves by wage work in variety of occupations 

- T&C innovations transformed          relations between communities      & regions- interconnections between people   resulted in more complex forms     of regulation which led to  revolutionized government  -  spend more effort in mobilizing      & regulating the people they rule

Page 71: Complex & Powerful Government

 BY-PRODUCTS OF NEW  GOVERNMENT RELATIONSHIPS * huge bureaucracies of modern        states * structures of democracy:    governments develop polices          according to peoples needs * nationalism: close connection          between  citizens governments    

- growth of nationalism &                   democracy = more administrative   & coercive power - change of power increased   dependence of modern states- power depends on economic           productivity and management  - skillful economics management        raised productivity

Page 72: Powerful Government 

GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR- increase wealth increases gap         between rich & poor  Improvements in:    [A] production and supply of            food & in sanitation    [B] understanding of disease   [C] introduction to vaccinations      and antibiotics

- these improvements help to explain why so few died in infancy - however, these gains are not shared equally but they impact everyone

Page 73: Opportunities for women 

- reduced importance of physical strength in employment- new forms of contraception = shared tasks of raising child - new forms of socialized old-age support reduce pressure of         have lots of kids as insurance - urbanization and commercialization crated more varied forms of employment for women as well as men