Changing Patterns of Life Chapter 19 Section 3

Old Ways and New  Since 1945, people in the developing world have flocked to cities to find jobs and escape rural poverty.  Some people settled in shantytowns, slums on the outskirts of cities.  The children in the nuclear family often rejected the parents ways and many villagers that moved to cities felt stressed and isolated.  In cities, people tend to adopt western fashions and ideas.  Some places tried to reject westernization.  They go by the saying, “modernization without westernization.”

Old Ways and New Cont.  They welcome new technologies but preserve and keep the older ways and traditions.  Village life stays mainly the same with changes such as roads, clinics, and televisions.  These things can enrich life, but they also make traditions weaker.  The major world religions and their offshoots still shape modern societies.  Some religious reformers have been called fundamentalists because they stress what they as the fundamental, or basic, values of their faith.

New Rights and Roles for Women  After 1945s, women’s movements brought changes to both the western and the developing nations.  By 1950, women had won the right to vote in most European nations.  By the 1970s, the feminist movement sought greater access for women to jobs and promotions.  New roles for women raised difficult social issues.  New constitutions spelled out equality for women, at least on paper, but they still had less education.  In places like Africa, women do almost more work than the men.

Science and Technology  In the 1940s, the first computer was made and by 2000, a huge computer network linked everyone.  E-commerce, buying and selling on the internet, contributed to economic growth and vitality.  In the postwar era, the medical field achieved amazing successes, but advances in medicine were costly and limited to countries that could afford them.  Genetic engineering has also been a new advance in science, that raises a lot of ethical questions about whether life should be changed or created.  In 1957, the space age started and in 1969, the United States landed the first man on the moon.

Science and Technology Cont.  During the 1960s, scientists touched off the Green Revolution by developing new kinds of grain that produced more food per acre.  It only succeeded in areas with regular moisture and required pesticides and irrigation systems that were too expensive for most farmers to afford.  Technology has improved life everywhere and created many new kinds of jobs, but also threatens others.

A New Global Culture  The driving force behind this global culture has been the United States.  Some places balance western and nonwestern traditions, but critics have compared the westernization of cultures to a foreign invasion.  In the last 100 years, the western world has gained a new appreciation for the arts of other civilizations.  Global interest in the arts has led nations to value and protect ancient cultural treasures.

Looking Ahead  Many recent trades and issues emerged long before1945 and will continue for decades.  At the same time, new issues and new conflicts will almost certainly take shape.  Global Interests

Vocabulary  Green Revolution- when they tried to develop new kinds of rice and other grains that yielded more food per acre  Shantytown- slums on the outskirts of cities  Fundamentalist- religious reformers  Liberation Theology- Urging the church to take a more active role in opposing the social conditions that contribute to poverty  Feminist Movement- equal pay for equal work  E-Commerce- buying and selling on the internet  Genetic Engineering- altering the chemical code carried by living things