Finance Capitalism, Imperialism, and Turn-of-the-Century Society
Finance Capitalism
In late 19th century Europe, a new system known as finance capitalism was established.
Changes and Innovations
There were changes in energy, technology, finance, and investment, and innovations in new industries and business structures.
Energy
New sources of energy were discovered:
ELECTRICITY
- 1867 Bergès -> hydroelectrical generator
- 1879 Edison -> electric light bulb
OIL
Innovations to refine oil and to produce new fuels such as kerosene and petrol.
Important invention of the petrol-powered car in the late 19th century.
Technology
Improvement of the Bessemer converter made it cheaper to:
- produce steel for: railways, cars, machinery, and the new skyscrapers.
Technological advances:
- Stainless steel
- New types of fibers
New industries
- Electrical technology
- Production of equipment
- Companies like Siemens or AEG.
- New food industries
- Perishable food in metal tins
- Chemical industry
- Perfumes
- Medicines
- Dynamite
Finance and investment
- Business owners needed capital, and they obtained it from a variety of sources:
- Loans from banks (interests)
- Direct investments of banks in industry
- Form a company and sell shares to investors
- Stock Exchange
New Business structures
New forms of organization were created:
- Cartels
- Trusts
- Holding companies
The Consequences of Finance Capitalism
- Consumerism
- Economic instability
- International trade increased
- Trade imbalances
- Increased industrial productivity
The Turn-of-the-Century World Economy
Late 19th century and beginning of the 20th.
The Second Industrial Revolution is developing.
Three countries were more powerful in industry at that moment:
- Germany -> leader in Europe.
- The USA -> immigration from Europe was used for workforce; westward expansion.
- Japan -> Government led the industrialization.
Other countries
Great Britain lost its past leading role in the industrialization process because they did not invest in new industries or in modernization.
Spain continued in the same way, just a few regions were industrialized.
Imperialism
Imperialism or Colonialism is the policy or practice of extending a state’s rule over other weaker territories.
The Colonial Empires
- The colonizers were mainly the USA, Japan, and European powers (above all Great Britain and France).
- The regions that became colonies during this period under the power of the colonizers were large areas of Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
The Causes of Imperial Expansion
- Causes or factors of imperial expansion:
- Finance capitalism
- Industrial development
- Necessity to invest capital surpluses
- Colonies provided:
- Cheaper raw materials and new sources of energy
- New markets
- International prestige and power for the colonizers
- Emigration to colonies was usual (because of unemployment problems).
The Consequences of Imperialism
- Settlers imposed their culture over native people.
- Racial segregation.
- Rivalry between imperial powers was the origin of WWI and created other smaller wars.
- Imbalanced world economy.
- Colonies suffered economic dependence.
- Exploitation of the workforce and raw materials.
Positive consequences
- Construction of new infrastructures in the colonies.
- Growth of the population due to improvements in wealth and hygiene (mortality rate decreased).
- Development of urban life (but it was controlled by the bourgeoisie from the imperial powers).
An Unequal Society
Consequences of Finance capitalism in society:
Greater inequalities between classes:
- Upper and middle classes became richer and were part of the consumer society.
- Working class got worse in their poor situation.
The Consumer Society
Consumerism developed during the late 19th century among upper and middle classes.
They usually acquired manufactured goods and also luxury products.
The ways in which consumerism manifested were:
- Advertising
- New luxury items
- Tourism /leisure time
- Cinemas
Social Inequalities
Differences between classes increased.
The working class suffered the most difficult situations, with problems to cover basic necessities.
That led to a period of protests and strikes between 1880 and 1914.
New Socialist and Communist parties were created to defend the workers’ rights.
Spanish Society at the Turn of the Century
In Spain, the same problems and inequalities between classes led to the same consequences: the appearance of more trade unions and political parties to defend workers.
The most important were:
- PSOE, 1879
- FTRE, 1881
- UGT, 1888
- CNT, 1910
Pablo Iglesias (1850-1925)
He was a Spanish socialist and labor leader.
He is regarded as the father of Spanish socialism; having founded the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) in 1879 and the Spanish General Workers’ Union (UGT) in 1888.
He produced many excellent intellectual works in Spain and internationally.
Iglesias was one of the best propagandists among Spanish socialist idealists; few workers’ leaders wrote so much of interest. Characterized by vehement defense and furious attack, his works make an ethically coherent call for regeneration and hope.
Culture and Economy
The Regeneracionismo was an intellectual movement led by Joaquín Costa. They wanted to renew Spanish society and improve the lives of working-class people.
Rural credit unions were created to help farmers.
The Anarchist movement continued its violent actions, and the government repressed them.
Modernism and Impressionism
Modernist Architecture or Art Nouveau
- Characteristics:
- Late 19th and early 20th centuries. Art Nouveau was most popular in Europe, but its influence was global.
- Reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines.
- Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environment.
- Considered a philosophy of design of furniture, which was designed according to the whole building.
- Variety of building materials: functional and decorative.
Modernismo español. Gaudí
In Spain, the style was based mainly in Barcelona and was an essential element of the Catalan Modernisme.
Architect Antoni Gaudí, whose decorative architectural style is so personal that he is sometimes considered as practicing an artistic style different from Art Nouveau, nonetheless uses Art Nouveau’s floral and organic forms.
His designs from about 1903, the Casa Batlló and Casa Milà, are most closely related to the stylistic elements of Art Nouveau. However, famous structures such as the Sagrada Familia characteristically contrast the modernizing Art Nouveau tendencies with revivalist.
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
IMPRESSIONISM 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists.
Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities.
Impressionist sculpture. Rodin
Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor. Although he is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition, although he was never accepted into Paris’s school of art.
Sculpturally, Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply surface in clay. Many of his most notable sculptures were roundly criticized during his lifetime.
Rodin’s most original work departed from traditional themes of mythology and allegory, modeled the human body with realism, and celebrated individual character and physicality.
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they continued using vivid colors, thick application of paint, distinctive brush strokes, and real-life subject matter, but they were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, to distort form for expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary color.
The term was coined in 1910 by Roger Fry in the title of an exhibition of modern French painters: Manet and the Post-Impressionists, organized by Fry for the Grafton Galleries in London.
The most famous painters were: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezánne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, and Signac.