19th+Century+Urban+Society


 * Benthamite**: A follower of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who believed in solutions that would do the most good for the greatest amount of people. Edwin Chadwick was on of these Benthamites.


 * miasmatic theory:** "Miasma" means pollution. The theory states that people got sick from smelling bad odors, primarily of decay and excrement. Edwin Chadwick believed in this idea. It was significantly weakened after the 1850's following the introduction of the germ theory.


 * labor aristocracy:** The members of the working class who worked their way up into higher positions. They were incredibly prideful in their achievements, and strove to improve. They copied the middle class in their desire to be morally upright and improve their situations even more.


 * illegitimacy explosion-** due to the lack of community controls as young people moved to the cities. The community did not force the boy to marry the impregnated girl, and her child was born out of wedlock. As the upper classes led the way of moral codes, the rates decreased. Also, areas with strong religious convictions or little industrialization were not effected by the explosion.


 * defense mechanism**: A part of our subconscience that protects us from emotional harm. Freud believed that defense mechanisms controlled almost all of our daily actions and thoughts, although we did not know it. In order to find and change one's their defense mechanisms, one has to go deep within their subconscious and find what triggers the defense mechanisms.


 * thermodynamics-** The branch of physical science concerned with heat and its relation to other forms of energy and work. Study of this science began to expand greatly in the mid to late 1800's. (E(Energy)=Q(Heat)+W(Work))


 * organic chemistry- A field of chemistry that deals with coumpounds containing carbon. Researchers in large German chemical companies applied insights from this new field to transform the dirty, useless tar into synthetic dyes for the world of fashion.**


 * Michael Faraday**: An English chemist and physicist who studied magnetic fields that are generated around conductor of an electric current. This lead to the concept of electromagnetic fields.


 * Dmitri Mendeleev**: A Russian chemist who invented the first version of the periodic table of elements. By using the table, he discovered many properties of elements, such as general structure and atomic weight.


 * positivist method -** ... aka the scientific method. Comte believed that the application of this method to the new discipline of sociology would soon discover the eternal laws of human relations. In turn, this would enable expert social scientists to impose a disciplined harmony and well-being on the less enlightened citizens of the working classes.


 * Social Darwinists- People who believed that society was the way it was because some peole had been naturally selected( the rich) to dominate over the poor. Also believed that only the fittest in society will survive.**


 * Realism-**a style of writing that depicted life as it actually was; realists believed in observing and informing, instead of adding emotional feelings like the Romantics. Many disapproved of this portrayal of humans and their less-than-desirable characteristics.


 * antiseptic principle: The general fact that proper sterilization of surgical intruments and the entire surgical theater will prevent infection and increase the chances a patient will survive a surgery.**


 * separate spheres:** The separate domain of the man and women; the man earned the money, and the woman was in charge of keeping the house clean and taking care of the children. This system developed when women experienced a lack of opportunities for employment, thus allowing the man to be the primary bread-winner.

-I disagree. Who says we are no longer evolving? Our genetic makeups are constantly changing.
 * evolution-** the scientific theory that all life evolved from one miniscule organism and developed into what we see today, but for some unfathomable reason, we are not evolving anymore. This left no room for God in scientific thought.


 * urbanization-** everyone started moving into the city to get new jobs in the factories. The population rose quickly. THe cities became to crowded and living conditions went down. Mortality rates went up, but soo did population...more people were coming in then were dying. Since everyone was living so close together, disease spread very quickly.


 * Edwin Chadwick:** the man who decided that poverty was caused by disease and death (can't work when you are sick; orphans are doomed to be poor). He felt that it was necessary to improve sanitation to improve the quality of life. His ideas led to the development of the first health codes in England.


 * “sanitary idea”-**-Edwin Chadwick was a commissioner of the administration of the relief of paupers under Great Britain's Poor Law of 1834. He believed that public problems should be dealt with scientific basis and for the "greatest good for the greatest number" according to Jeremy Bentham and other Benthamites. He used those beliefs to state his "sanitary idea," disease could ne prevented by cleaning up the cities. Chadwick's "idea" and report became the basis of britain's first public health law and helped to improve urban conditions.


 * Joseph Lister-** he was an english surgeon who grasped the connection between aerial bacteria and the problem of wound infections. he reasoned that chemical disinfectant applied to a would would destroy the bacteria. this was called the antiseptic principal and led to the practice of sterilizing the wound and everything used to treat it.


 * Charles Darwin, //On the Origin of Species-//** helped by the work Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Darwin collected data on the different animal species of his 5 year cruise through Latin America and South pacific. He was convinced by fossils and his bff Lyell that life on earth was ancient and each species of animal was not a divine creation. Instead, Darwin believed all life slowly evolved from the same origin in an eternal "struggle for survival." His theory in O//n the Origin of Species// caused quite the commotion and stated specific characteristics cause species to survive or die. Darwin was called the "Newton of biology" for his findings and supported Comte and Marx while dissing religious beliefs.

The theory was popular among some because it seemed to provide a biological case for laissez faire capitalism, minimal welfare and low taxes. 
 * Hebert Spencer, Social Darwinism-** this stresses competition. it was "survival of the fittest" referring to different groups of people and cultures. instead of Physical fitness like darwin meant, Spencer means only the most intelligent and hard working will survive.


 * Sigmund Freud-** the Viennese founder of psychoanalysis, analyzed the inner-workings of the family, especially the middle-class family. Freud said that bitter early-childhood experiences that force the child to repress emotions cause the hysteria of mentally ill patients. The patient would then have to understand their unhappiness and deal with it in order to improve. Freud's most influential ideas were the Oedipal and Electra complexes. The Oedipal complex states that sons compete with their father for the mother's attention while the Electra complex states that daughters compete with their mothers for father's attention. Freud also believed that humans had many unconscious thoughts that were kept from our conscious by defense mechanisms. Freud's beliefs were a reflection of the emotionally intensity that accompanied family life in the late 1800's. He was a creep.


 * Albert Einstein** (Theory of Relativity)- German Physicist. Famous for his Theory of Relativity that compares gravity with space and time. It is kind of hard to explain, so ask your local physics teacher.


 * Honoré de Balzac- French novelist and playwright. Famous for his la comedie humane, which was a tale of French life after the fall of Napoleon.**


 * Leo Tolstoy- was the greatest russian realist. he combined realism in description and character development with an atypical moralizing, which came to dominate his later work. his greatest work was war and peace which was a novel set against the historical background of napoleons invasion of russia in 1812. he went deep into the lives of multiple characters, yet his central message was human love, trust and everyday family ties which are life's enduring values. he also wrote the novel ana karenina.**