Historical materialism is the Marxist approach for interpreting history. It is the interpretation of relations between groups of people and the resulting class struggles. According to Marxist theory, there exists a sequence of historical stages each with its own ruling class. Under feudalism the ...

Humanism During the Renaissance The Renaissance was an incredibly important turning point in Western Intellectual and Cultural Tradition. All of these changes centered on the idea of Humanism -- in which, people became less God Centered and more Human-centered. I have narrowed down these changes, ...

Marx based his ideas on the past history of societies. "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle." Marx theorizes that throughout history there has been and will be a constant opposition between the oppressor and the oppressed. As opposed to past f...

During the late fourteenth century, there was a change from medieval to times that are more modern. There was a change in society like none before. There were significant changes due to the Black Death that had cause serious disruptions to life. The English Peasant's Revolt of 1381 is one o...

The ancien regime "means old regime in French" and is the term applied to practically every facet of European social, economic, and political development before the French Revolution of 1789. A striking feature of the ancien regime was the contrast in the lives and experiences of the peoples of d...

The Industrial Revolution, Karl Marx & Max Weber. The powers that were in place for over a millenium were violently shifting. The 19th century was a time filled with revolution & revolutionaries. Industrialization and capitalism were plowing the feudal system into oblivion. The Industrial Rev...

"That Zola's is not purely romantic as was Hugo's, lies chiefly in the choice of milieu. These great terrible dramas no longer happen among the personnel of a feudal and Renaissance nobility, those who are in the forefront of the marching world, but among the lower – almost the...

Battleship Potemkin A movie is something that we look for in need of entertainment, so how is it that a movie can have so much impact on reality? In the film "Battleship Potemkin" this is a true statement. It is a film constructed during the time of Revolutions in Russia. This film pres...

Society is composed of two kinds of individuals, according to Mills. First kind is the majority of the ordinary people who do not have the power to govern the driving forces of society. The second kind is the power elite who have the power to rule the political, economic and military establishments,...

Essay: The French Revolution Prompt: Identify the major social groups in France on the eve of the 1789 Revolution. Assess the extent to which their aspirations were achieved in the period from the meeting of the Estates-General (May 1789) to the declaration of the republic (Sept 1792). Louis XVI...

Summary: The Civilizing Process by Norbert Elias Social scientist, Norbert Elias, examines in part two of his book, The Civilizing Process, the development of manners and the subsequent 'civilizing' of Western Europe since the middle ages. This journey in time is an attempt to understa...

The Nobility of the 18th century in Western Europe made up 2 to 3 percent of the total population, but they were the major influences of economic and social roles and also had a hand in the politics in society of the time. The nobility of the time were the chief contributors to the financial system...