It's a new dawn, It's a new age
Introduction
Paradigm shifts are very common in society. Whether long, drawn out periods or short, pithy periods it is a historical fact that paradigm shifts have occurred and occurred very frequently in history. So, when we are asked to choose a particular period of time exemplifying a paradigm shift and discuss it in depth, there are seemingly endless opportunities for choices. However, when I look at history in terms of what I've been taught about or observed, no paradigm shift catches my eyes quite like the following two:
Industrialization and Automation:
In the late 1700's, one of the biggest and most defining changes of the modern world occurred and it is commonly known as The Industrial Revolution. Prior to the time of this massive change, items that
were bought and sold were created through long arduous labor. Artisanship ruled the production industry thereby causing items to take long amounts of time to make and to also be very expensive, due to supply and demand trends. However, when the Industrial Revolution came about, everything changed. Items were created faster and less expensively, but there were many other societal, economic, and political changes that occurred because of this paradigm shift.
The Modern Evolution of War:
War is an everlasting concept that has been with mankind since man could feasibly facilitate it. However, war does not stay the same in any way. War changes when technology changes. The way war changes has been historically correlatory of the way that society itself changes. As much as there have been several changes within the way war works, the changes do not at all have the same magnitude in each change. Some changes are relatively insignificant, such as modifying the way a weapon works to be more efficient. However, some changes are extremely significant, such as going from simple explosives to atomic explosives. This particular shift from simple explosives to ICB atomic missiles is in my opinion the most significant of all the changes observed within war in the history of ever as now not only can a country defeat another country in war, but can quite literally wipe the country off the face of the Earth.
Paradigm shifts are very common in society. Whether long, drawn out periods or short, pithy periods it is a historical fact that paradigm shifts have occurred and occurred very frequently in history. So, when we are asked to choose a particular period of time exemplifying a paradigm shift and discuss it in depth, there are seemingly endless opportunities for choices. However, when I look at history in terms of what I've been taught about or observed, no paradigm shift catches my eyes quite like the following two:
Industrialization and Automation:
In the late 1700's, one of the biggest and most defining changes of the modern world occurred and it is commonly known as The Industrial Revolution. Prior to the time of this massive change, items that
were bought and sold were created through long arduous labor. Artisanship ruled the production industry thereby causing items to take long amounts of time to make and to also be very expensive, due to supply and demand trends. However, when the Industrial Revolution came about, everything changed. Items were created faster and less expensively, but there were many other societal, economic, and political changes that occurred because of this paradigm shift. The Modern Evolution of War:
War is an everlasting concept that has been with mankind since man could feasibly facilitate it. However, war does not stay the same in any way. War changes when technology changes. The way war changes has been historically correlatory of the way that society itself changes. As much as there have been several changes within the way war works, the changes do not at all have the same magnitude in each change. Some changes are relatively insignificant, such as modifying the way a weapon works to be more efficient. However, some changes are extremely significant, such as going from simple explosives to atomic explosives. This particular shift from simple explosives to ICB atomic missiles is in my opinion the most significant of all the changes observed within war in the history of ever as now not only can a country defeat another country in war, but can quite literally wipe the country off the face of the Earth.
Both of your topics are great in that you will have no trouble finding enough research and sources to backup whatever claims you make. These topics are both so important that I'm sure historians will be able to give you a lot of perspectives. Your problem actually will be to filter the research instead of finding it! That being said, I seriously love the idea of the second topic. I am totally biased in the sense that reading the word "industrialization" bored me and the picture for your war intrigued me greatly. But still, I think the war idea is more interesting because the shift is something that could effect us today.
ReplyDeleteI am unsure of whether or not the development of ICBM's and atomic bombs reflects a paradigm shift as much as it is a product of technological innovation. I may be wrong and but either way I think that you need to think about what the product of the shift was and if it is fully complete yet. You could also think about how these advances in war technologies affected citizens relationship to war. The industrialization could work really well too.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these paradigm shifts that you present are very large and ones that impact a large majority of the population. That being said, I think that the industrial revolution topic, while it may be easy to obtain research for this topic, is one that is widely overused and exhausted. I remember learning about the industrial revolution back in middle school and high school, so I'm sure many people are already well-versed on the topic of the industrial revolution. The second topic that you present is much more relevant to today's society and is still evolving as a paradigm shift as we speak. I think that exploring how war has changed over time would be really interesting to research, write about, and talk about.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I think Jacob brings up a good point -- a paradigm shift talk about the Industrial Revolution might be factual and represent a "shift," but the information will not be novel or compelling for an audience. Your second topic has more novelty, but Charles' comment also brings a point to consider: is the shift one of just technological innovation, or one of how we actually conceptualize war? That's an important distinction.
ReplyDeleteIf you do stay with the second topic, I'd encourage you to set a very clear timeline, though, as you obviously can't cover warfare from the dawn of time until now. (The scope on this particular topic has the potential to be very broad.)