Conditions That inspired the 20th century Revolutions and Are Likely to Conceive Revolutions in the 21st Century
According to (Adams, 2004) a Revolution is the change in organizational structures or power that occurs in a short time period. Revolutions vary as they occur in different terms including; methods, ideology, and duration resulting in great changes in the economy, culture, political institutions, and social institutions. In the 20th century, a large number of revolutions have taken place in America, among them being revolutions in agriculture, industry natural resources, and in the economy. There are conditions that inspired these revolutions and are still prevalent in modern societies. One of these conditions is the need for mineral resources and their availability in areas that had not been tapped before the 20th century. There were also policies that supported the extraction of minerals as well as the advances in know-how which was due to the introduction of improved technology in the 20th century hence the rise in the quantities of natural resources.
(Adams, 2004) found that, there was a need to reduce the high mortality rate as a result of infection which lowered life expectancy greatly, and in the 20th century, developments were made to reduce infection through the invention of drugs that were anti-infectious, vaccines to reduce vulnerability to infection and development in the area of hygiene which consequently led to a rise in life expectancy. Another inspiring condition was the rise of population level in the 20th century and it called for more agricultural output to feed the growing population. Progress in technology in the 20th century was a great contribution to the increase in agricultural output such that the same amount of input resulted in more output with the use of the available high technology.
Industrialization also inspired revolutions in the 20th century which came as a solution to the need for more production of goods and services where machines replaced manual use of labor and the introduction of consumer products by use of assembly line. This changed the lifestyle of the Americans from health, to the use of energy and improvement in their social life and resulted in increases in the capacity of production. This affected basic needs like clothing, food production, housing, and medicine, and as a result, the society was able to produce more quickly and have better things developed. This process of industrialization continues up-to-date leading to an increase in population growth rate which is linked to increasing usage of energy, manmade resources, by-products, land for living, and growing food, and natural resources. Naturally, the increased growth in population led to a rise in the requirements for land, housing food, and resources hence increasing the by-products (Adams, 2004).
Similarities and differences between 20th-century revolutions, those that preceded them and those that may follow
The similarity is that the population level was growing in the 20th century and is still growing in the 21st century and this will lead to the continued increase in the agricultural output. Also in the 20th century, there was an improvement in technology, this has also been experienced in the 21st century and more will be experienced even in the future. Another similarity is that in the 20th century, more industries were put up and the same has been done in the 21st century and will go on due to the need for more production of goods and services to meet the market demands. (Adams, 2004)
The difference is that, in the 20th century, resources that were available exceeded demand the reason being that the population level was lower than it is in the 21st century where most of the resources have been exploited. Another difference that exists in the level of technological know-how is that, in the 21st century, the technology is more than that used in the 20th century to exploit the resources. Lastly, the lack of good infrastructure was a limiting factor to a revolution in the 20th century, but it has improved in the 21st century and the public has grasped the idea of sustainable development and production. Since change is a continuous process, more areas have experienced revolution and will receive more in the future credit to the rapidly growing technology (Adams, 2004).
References
Adams J. (2004): A serious rendering of the American Revolution: McCullough pp. 23-30.