Ideologies

Chapter?34: An Age of Anxiety Chapter Outline Probing cultural frontiers Postwar pessimism The "lost generation" Term used to describe pessimism of U.S. and European thinkers after the war Postwar poetry and fiction reflected disillusionment with western culture Scholars--Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee--lamented decline of the west Religious thought reflected uncertainty and pessimism Karl Barth attacked liberal Christian theology embracing idea of progress Older concepts of original sin and human depravity revived Attacks on the ideal of progress Science tarnished by the technological horrors of World War I Most western societies granted suffrage to all men and women Many intellectuals disillusioned with democracy Conservatives decried "the rule of inferiors"