What is the difference with the way we think now,and the way we think a century ago?

Question

Don't add technology in the mix but our level of understanding ourselves and others. Did our consciousness change or are we just thinking the same way as our elders did in the past? and why?

I understand your point, however, I'm talking about basic consciousness level. example,
how to solve a conflict without violence.
How to live without fear.
How to act without self-interest.
How to love without condition.

Answer 1

Yes we think in the same manner our great grandparents did, as our grandparents did. We want acceptance, we want love, to be loved and to love. We still reject God and His word, as many did ten decades ago, but there are many who; like in the old days, believe in God, and His Salvation.
Today we fear death, like Jesse James did. We wonder what we are here for ...still.... There is as much want and need for food, shelter, & clothing as there was a century ago. And again style was important to us. What's in? What's out? What's the latest from Paris? Money was an issue, where do we get a job, and how much is the pay? Can I get a good trade and what will it take to get it? Apprenticeship, college, or just high school?
Still the girls wonder "does he like me"? The boys were still looking for that paradise, only without the dashboard light.
Fathers had weapons of choice against the young wolves prowling the veranda, and today a fathers weapon of choice is still as much a threat to the young wolves, only different in technology.
We want a warm house, and good food on the table first thing in a January morning, as did my great grandfather, and his siblings.
Mother's still cling to their children even when they have both feet out the door and suitcase in hand. Our mother's are still spoiling our kids, as the grandmothers did with "a penny candy" a hundred years ago.
They feared the unknown, and so do we. They cried for others, and we still do. There was the right and there was the wrong, just like today we have a right way and a wrong way.
Husbands and wives still argue about matters of the family, and families still bond good or poor like the did in 1907. The week-end shindigs, were basicly the same as a Saturday night in the club. Entertainment was sought after in the stage, whereas we now look to the cinema.
We're still nationalistic. There are still wars going on somewhere in the world. We want to be informed as did the old codgers at the town hall basement meetings.
Today the adults speak of the irrelivence that the" young uns" live now-a-days. Teenagers then got the same treatment that the teenagers do today. They are all going to hell in a handbasket. They have no respect for their elders.
Nothing has changed in the way we think. It is the same these days as it was a century ago.
We all have the same basic needs, we all are the human beings God created. Now and a hundred years ago.

Answer 2

I think the industrial revolution played the biggest role because that marks our transition from an agrarian (agriculture) based society to an Industry based society. Technology, as an outgrowth of industry, really must be considered to get an accurate view of society from 100 years ago to the present.

One of the best courses I ever took in college was 'American Society Since the Industrial Revolution' and "The Joy of Sports" by Michael Novak (1976 ed.) was one of the best books I read for that class. Please don't be turned off if you're not a sports fan (I'm not). It uses characteristics of different sports, as a reflection of our society's values, to illustrate changes in American society. I wish I could tell you move, but it's been many years and someone didn't return the book when I loaned it. He published a revised edition in 1995, so maybe I'll get that one... and not loan it out to casual friends!

P.S. Please don't give me best answer because I'm a contact! I don't deserve it since I really didn't answer your question. I just saw your question and, based on other questions you've asked, thought you might enjoy this book. ~~Cheers!

Answer 3

,Depending on how far you go back, survival was primary, food, liquid, shelter and safety. One had a faith or no faith, but were not condemned.
No difference in those today either. Now there is more a social consciousness, to impress such as keeping up with the Jones, self expression as in body tattoo and piercing.
Today we have religious persecution, even tho in the US we have freedom of religion

Answer 4

A century ago.
Racism was so common and accepted that the word itself was unknown
Science was magic.
Women were owned but not considered slaves.
Today some do still think the same way, but they are fewer everyday.

Answer 5

You sorta have to add technology into it.It played such a big part in the way we see ourselves and the world.So many things have been explained that were considered supernatural events.Think about the airplane,going into space,curing diseases and the computer just to name a few.

Answer 6

We are a selfish bunch, we want to know what's in it for me. A century ago, it was all about helping your fellow man.

Answer 7

LOL, that's about 50 years before my time. Good luck with that one.