A Changed Society

After World War One, society was shaken to the core. The period following WWI is known as the "Age of Anxiety" because of the disillusionment and the abandonment of previously ruling thoughts of the Enlightenment and nineteenth century revolutions. Many new ideas surfaced; some were frightening. The effects of WWI reverberated through society.

In philosophy, Friedrich Nietzsche developed Existentialism. He looked at the human condition and their existence in a meaningless world. His idea that "God is dead" led to Nihilism, or the rejection of the material world for Utopian thinking. Also, Ludwig Wittgenstein developed logical empiricism which is based on experiences and inductive reasoning. Although these philosophies still believed in progress and reason, they were radical and somewhat disturbing ideas that arose from the ashes of war. People began to question ideas that had been in place for centuries as a psychological result of the war.

Then, psychoanalysis through literature and music developed. Sigmund Freud studied hysteria cases, developed theories on instincts, unconsciousness and the structure of the mind and then developed psychoanalysis. He put patients under hypnosis to recall emotions and such from the unconscious mind and cure mental disorders. In literature, the stream-of-consciousness technique uses internal monologues to explore the human psyche. Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner and James Joyce were the most prominent authors of the technique. In music, the feelings of the time were expressed in different styles and different themes such as a musical study of madness. Famous composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg represented opposite ends of musical styles. Psychoanalysis became a big part of society because of the traumatic effects of the war.

All aspects of society were dramatically impacted by the war. The rise of new and disturbing ideas came out of the questioning of what was the foundation of society. The roots of society had been uprooted and destroyed and society had been changed forever.