1. Contemporary European Society and Culture

2. The Economic Miracle and its Consequences

3. The Baby Boom and After
The Great Depression and WWII had happened European birth rates
After 1945, a steady increase in the birth rate occurred (baby boom)
Governments encouraged the trend
An influx of immigrants increased the European population 25% from 1945 to 1970

4. The birthrate trended downward after the mid 1960s
Since the 1970s, the population of many European nations has stagnated
Affects politics for two reasons
Government provisions for generous retirement benefits must be funded by the young
Ethnic diversity has increased social tension

5. Growth and Challenge to the Welfare State
Governments expanded welfare benefits following WWII
In the West, the trend was driven by the dominance of Keynesian economic theory
Provided old age pensions, unemployment and disability insurance, subsidized medical and redistributed income through progressive taxation

6. During the 1970s and 1980s there was increasing criticism to these policies
A resurgence of conservative political parties in several nations occurred
Supply side economics argued that economic productivity would result from the reduction of taxes, regulation and government spending on the welfare state
Produced growth in the 1980s and 1990s

7. Consumerism and its Critics
Postwar prosperity brought a flood of new consumer goods
Kitchen appliances, television sets, automobiles, and fashion
Mass marketing techniques grew in sophistication

8. Images and sounds were beamed across the Iron Curtain to demonstrate the superiority of the West
Marketers employed sexuality to sell products
The Western economies began to shift toward service and information processing
Environmentalists objects to the waste of nonrenewable resources and pollution

9. Technological Advances
Continued scientific progress
Major advances in medicine doubled life expectancy
Antibiotics, penicillin and vaccines helped curtail an of dreaded diseases
Safe surgery and organ transplantation

10. Smallpox had been eradicated by 1975
Much scientific research was funded by governments
Many European nations had adopted nuclear power as a beneficial side of the Cold War
Opponents feared that reliance on nuclear power would lead to environmental problems

11. Critics and Outsiders in European Society

12. Youth Revolts and the Generation Gap
Baby boom generation was the first to attend college in large numbers
Classes tended to be large and impersonal and the professors distant
Students criticized living conditions and demanded the addition of up to date and relevant courses

13. Protests began in Germany and Italy, before spreading to France
French students considered de Gaulle an elderly and distant figure, more concerned with foreign policy
Also many students were sympathetic to leftist ideologies
In 1968, the University of Paris exploded with student unrest

14. At first, workers supported the students
De Gaulle’s government was on the verge of collapse but he diffused the situation
The students eventually settled for concessions

15. Many used the generation gap to describe the widely divergent experiences of parents who grew up in the Depression and WWII with their children
Youth Culture embraced rebellion

16. Postwar European governments decriminalized homosexuality and abortion, and made birth control available
Resulting sexual revolution sought to separate sexual expression from family and commitment

17. Feminism Militant feminism began as a transatlantic movement
Women had gained the right to vote and turned toward themes of economic and cultural liberation

18. Inspired by several key works
Simone de Beauvior, The Second Sex
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

19. Women entered the workforce in larger percentages than before
Attained leadership positions in government during the postwar era
Believed in reproductive rights were essential to progress
Were instrumental in pushing the UN to develop programs for female literacy, contraception and universal rights

20. Environmentalism
Economic growth had created pollution, acid raid, and global warming
Environmental groups sprung up and agitated for ecological protections
Green parties developed

21. Environmentalists often combined forces with feminists and anti nuclear groups
In 1992, the Earth Summit was held in Rio over global warming
150 nations have signed the Kyoto Protocol to halve greenhouse gases

22. Guest Workers and Immigration
In the 1950s and 1960s, Europe dealt with its labor shortage by enticing immigrants from Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East
These people performed jobs that local populations were reluctant or unwilling to do

23. When the economy slowed, local populations urged the guest workers to leave
Anti immigrant parties and neo-Nazi groups urged their expulsion, or worse, attacked ethnic enclaves
In France, the National Front Party called for an end to immigration

24. Indigenous European terrorist movements took root
Leftist groups arose out of the violent youth movement
The Red Brigade in Italy
The Baader-Meinhof Gang in Germany

25. Ethnic separatist movements in Northern Ireland and Spain have used tactics similar to leftist groups
Irish Republican Army
The ETA in Spain

26. Intellectual and Cultural Trends

27. Modernism and Postmodernism
Modernism is the effort to discover the laws of nature and of the human body
Reach objective knowledge of the world
Once humans possess objective knowledge, they can flourish and achieve progress

28. Experiences of the 20th century have produced a movement against the modern assumption of objective knowledge, a movement known as postmodernism
Postmodernism gets its basis from Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, both of whom emphasized the lack of objective values in the world and the importance of subjective experience

29. Postmodernism has exercised a significant influence on literary criticism, philosophy, the writing of history, architecture and film
Postmodernists aimed to deconstruct texts to find the underlying sociopolitical structure of gender, class, and race embedded in the author’s work

30. Postmodernists express more interest in how knowledge is constructed rather than its correspondence with the truth

31. Existentialism Existentialism dominated the postwar intellectual world
Arises out of the dizzying economic and technological change, the decline of traditional values and the horrors of the 20th century

32. Most but not all existentialists begin with Nietzsche’s premise “God is dead”
If this is so, then man must create himself
Jean Paul Sartre argued that we have no creator, our essence must be defined by our own choices and values

33. Albert Camus writes that humans must face the absurdity of existence by making life-defining choices alone
Human experience is thus subjective, we must accept our radical human form and act with authenticity

34. Art, Theater and Music
The center of the Western art world shifted to New York City
Art in the contemporary era is dominated by abstract impressionism and pop art
In abstract impressionism, the artist does not portray anything but an emotional attitude or mood

35. Pop art is often associated with both the rise of consumerism in the postwar world and the idea of postmodernism
The idea of Albert Camus influenced the so-called Theater of the Absurd
Absurdist drama provokes the question: What is happening now?

36. The audience attempts to ascertain the significance of what is occurring on state
Waiting for Godot
Roxencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
In music, composers of avant-garde music experimented with serialism

37. Religion in the Modern World
Religious beliefs in Europe decline in the postwar world
Religious developments continued to play a role in European culture after 1945
For the RCC, the ecumenical movement was one that tried to establish common ground with other religions

38. Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council to update doctrine and practice in keeping with modern developments
He opened dialogues with different faiths and called on wealthy nations to support social justice
Paul VI continued the work of the Vatican II

39. A historic change occurred with the election of the first non Italian pope since 1522, and the first Slavic pope ever
John Paul II supported Solidarity in Poland, worked toward the end of Soviet oppression and condemned the nuclear arms race and excesses of consumer capitalism

40. He made efforts to reconcile the RCD with its pact, apologizing for the Crusades, Galileo’s persecution, and the failure of the RCC during the Holocaust
He adhered to a conservative line on church dogma, upholding bans on contraception, female priests, married priests and abortion

41. Most European Protestant denominations have adapted their faiths in keeping with modern science