One of the most beneficial social movements that rapidly spread during the 19th century was Industrialism. Industrialization is responsible for numerous economic and, as a result, social developments that increased technological growth and improved the quality of life overall. The pivotal event that launched the era of Industrialism was Industrial Revolution, which transformed economies based on agriculture into manufacturing states. Technological progress propelled the efficiency of most industries, including manufacturing, farming, and transportation. It resulted in the radical increase of the wealthy middle-class population, providing them with access to education and better living conditions. When more and more people were becoming free to improve their minds and switch focus from survival to development, technological and social growth started to progress exponentially. Everything from industries to social regimes was a subject for rapid change and enhancement. Without a doubt, Industrialism helped to make a significant step towards the modern and technologically advanced world we observe today.
Another fundamentally beneficial ideology was abolitionism, which fought against slavery. The goal of abolitionists was to achieve the absolute emancipation of all slaves. It was a crucial goal from different perspectives, but most profoundly from the humane one, since individuals’ freedom in the form of slavery must not exist. Even though the U.S. government was actively persecuting this movement, the brave followers of antislavery, like William Lloid Garrison and Frederick Douglass, continued to pursue their goal. Eventually, their actions gradually found support and attracted many additional followers. Finally, abolitionism fulfilled its mission that manifested itself in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments freeing enslaved people, granting them citizenship, and improving the civil rights of black men (McCarther 93). Therefore, the impact of abolitionism on the human rights establishment is hard not to acknowledge.
Regarding the most harmful ideologies of the 19th century, I consider communism at the top of the list. The utopian idea of total social and economic equality resulted in deaths and suffering of numerous people and alienating a significant proportion of the world. The problem of the concept was the unrealistic image of the social structure where any financial relationships did not exist, and all people were economically and socially equal. This ideology was adopted and reformulated by Carl Marx, which led to the implementation of the largest social experiment of all time, the Soviet Union. The inherent fallacy of the underlying ideology on which the country was built destroyed the lives of thousands of individuals by putting them in poverty or simply murdering them by the hands of the totalitarian regime (Conquest 132). Even though the creation of the Soviet Union may not be a direct fault of communism, the utopian ideology allowed it to be formed.
The alternative system of ideas of the 19th century that I regard as harmful is nationalism. The danger of considering one’s country or nation as supreme is the increasing probability of unfolding international conflicts and even wars. When people acquire the worldview that alienates them from the individuals of other nations, it turns on the tribal instinct that, apart from everything else, makes people view others as their enemies and justifies aggression towards other nations (Clark and Winegard 7). In addition, the tribal worldview can propel nations to try and establish their world dominance through conquering others, like the Napoleonic imperialism that threatened Europe during the 19th century. Another example of extreme nationalism may be observed in the form of Nazism. These cases represent the potential danger of nationalism.
Works Cited
Clark, Cory, and Bo Winegard. “Tribalism in War and Peace: The Nature and Evolution of Ideological Epistemology and Its Significance for Modern Social Science.” Psychological Inquiry, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-22.
Conquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivisation and the Terror-Famine. Random House, 2018.
McCarther, Shirley. American Educational History Journal: Volume 46 #1 & 2. IAP, 2019.