Modernism

The first half of the twentieth century saw radical changes in all fields of Western culture and society as values were transformed in an attempt to deal with the perceived collapse in traditional values. Europe entered a stage of crisis following the industrial revolution and the rise of economic strength and power of the United States; a crisis which intensified following World War I.

"Modernists believed that only by a radical rejection of inherited systems and values could a better life be produced" (Fuery and Mansfield, 1997). The modernists attempted to provide solutions to the crisis, and in so doing, imposed their own values and universal truths upon the system.