Charles Dickens and Hard Times

[DonaldBaker]

Charles Dickens' book Hard Times portrayed Coketown as a dirty and unfeeling burgeoning industrial city.  Did the Industrial Revolution taint modern society metaphorically by taking away the old artisan and guild mentality of the working class?  Was Dickens capturing the essence of what it meant to live during the early stages of industrialism?  Are we seeing something similar with the computer age and its effects on modern society?  In other words, did industrialism and computer technology desensitize Western culture in some way?

[Phidippides]

Having not yet read Hard Times - but having some other familiarity with Dickens (after all, it's said that he repeats the same novel) I imagine that your question about the author would be answered in the affirmative.  The most obvious example of his criticisms of capitalism's excess can be found in the classic A Christmas Carol.  Along with the rise of the factory came the rise of the corporation, which shifted local business responsibility away from community-orientation and toward loyalty to distant corporate board members and shareholders.  In retrospect, the coporation was key - say for the growth of the U.S. economy - but it would be easy to see how its popularity would have alienated many in the 19th Century working class.

That's a good last set of questions you pose.  Just as the Industrial Revolution had its critics, the Information Revolution is sure to have its critics as well, but we might have to wait another 50 years to know which are classics from early 21st Century literature address existing problems.  I remember a friend of mine - back in 1995 or 1996 - who lambasted the microcosyms people lived in because of the internet.  I think that is true today.  Feelings of responsibility and belonging to one's community (because one works in that community) could very well weaken as a global e-commerce mentality develops.  Think about this - in the Middle Ages, we might be discussing history in some Florentine bar while drinking our swill; in the 19th Century, we might live in the same town and exchange our ideas via pamphletting or by writing bulletins which are posted at the town center; today, we discuss thoughts and events on an internet forum while we are separated by thousands of miles.  

There is far less reliance on our geographic neighbors than ever before, and there is little local interdependence.

[Stumpfoot]

This has been an interesting thread (short though it is) I had never thought to compare the industrial revolution with our modern age of technology. But it does make some since. We are experiencing a revolution not unlike the past. This modern age of communication has depersonalized society to a great extent. But I think you can take it further and talk about commercialism and the franchising of business. You spoke of the 'taking away of the old artisan and guild mentality of the working class.' Couldn't we say that the 'mom and pop' business class, the personal friendly way of doing business is being destroyed by huge franchised bulldozers, another class gone because of the revolution? Another way of serving society and turning the wheels of progress?