The influx of new cultures during the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution in the middle phase of the 18th century brought radical changes that challenged the rigid social hierarchy, philosophy, and the views of one’s self against the world. According to Macionis et al., one of the most notable impacts created by the Industrial Revolution was the invention of the steam engine. In 1765, the British inventor James Watt pioneered the technology through the use of coal power which resulted to more production compared to the manual labor. Factories spurred and gave way to large scale human employment to cater the demands of the society; mass production made goods cheaper and available to the public, apprenticeship in various crafts allowed specialization. The new movement encouraged people to work in groups rather than for themselves.
“In essence, they sold their labor to strangers who often cared less about them than the machines they operatedSome factory owners made vast fortunes, while the majority of industrial workers remained perilously close to poverty.” (Macionis et al., 526-527).
In this respect, the Industrial Revolution brought pros and cons; the benefits of the emerging technologies brought a diaspora of cultures and commodities to the old system, making their availability to all classes. Yet the cons of the productivity also utilized manpower from poor laborers who often work underpaid and longer hours. Coal mining used children labor in their industry and allowed them to work for few pennies while the women in other factories also work the same duration but with lesser pay due to their gender. (Macionis et al., 527). This set-up continued up to the 19th century. Back in the United States, a new radical thought spearheaded by the notable thinkers such as Emerson and Thoreau, their tirades concentrated on the ill effects produced by the slavery of humanity from the materialist culture. The movement known as transcendentalism was a philosophy that combined the dogmas of Buddhism and Kantianism. As Emerson noted in his essay, Man the Reformer (1841), he argued that the very nature of the materialistic societies only encourages prolonged suffering and inequality. Hence: “The young man, on entering life, finds the way to lucrative employments blocked with abuses. The ways of trade are grown selfish to the borders of theft, and supple to the bordersof fraud.” (222).
This quote generalizes the whole situation of the 19th century society as a materialistic culture concerned only on improving wealth with less attention to the humanity. The 19th century with its fanciful preference for opulence and wealth became associated with inevitable downfall and chaos. Therefore, instead of alleviating the suffering, the Industrial Revolution only widened the gap between the classes and produced another hierarchy that would continue even in the contemporary society. In his famous essay titled, The Transcendentalist (1841), Emerson perfectly summed up the core of this movement:
“It is simpler to be self-dependent. The height, the deity of man is, to be self-sustained, to need no gift, no foreign force. Society is good when it does not violate me; but best when it is likest [sic] to solitude.” (324).
The movement focused on isolation of one’s self from the society. Another figure under this movement was Henry David Thoreau, a colleague of Emerson also published essays regarding the transcendental thought. For the transcendentalists, being alone with nature provides opportunities for meditation and self-learning. It was because of this reason that he strongly disapproved of privatization of community spaces such as parks limited to the wealthy classes. He argued that parks should be always available to the public in times when they need solace from the hurly-burly of life.
“In advance of his age, he reached the conclusion that natural resources are not inexhaustible and considered that the environment is not just to be exploited for its resources but that its wild state is valuable in and of itself and must be preserved unimpaired for future generations.” (Granger 51).
Emerson admitted the beneficial effects of the new technologies, but he was not adamant to criticize its failures particularly the rising demography of new millionaires many of whom surpassed the former elites in terms of wealth. (Birch 385). Transcendentalism means rejection of the social hierarchy along with other components such as the Church, government, and technological industries. Transcendentalist thinkers argue that moral corruption originates from the imbalanced social institutions and made people depend on them rather than gaining freedom. The Industrial Revolution with its turbulent era demolished the traditional feudalistic social order and created a modern caste based on material gains from businesses. As merchants grew rich, as technologies improve, the society creates an unequal wealth distribution composed of poor at the bottom while the middle class and the aristocrats composed the middle and the top layers. This triangular pattern creates a vicious cycle of materialistic society rooted in suffering and inequality; the survival of the fittest wherein the rich thrives on the suffering of the majority. Emerson’s reference of “violation” was associated with the unfair labor practices done by many employers during his time. Hence, what he states later on was not a proposal but a remedy derived from the influence of the Buddhist texts; the concept of self-isolation from the rest. Emerson believed in the capacity of man to be self-reliant, that he can be his own God and supply himself with his own food and the best state to do all these things was of course in the solace of nature without the company of others. The doctrine of transcendental philosophy is the empowerment of man’s ability to do goodness to others without asking for return. In a way, individuals are born with innate kindness and righteous character, yet, the desire for material wealth wreaked havoc to the purity of man based on the ‘essential needs’ alone. The effects of materialism produced suffering of the others and thus, man’s morality became corrupt and vile centered on what was desired rather than what was needed. Slavery was also a highly debated notion in the past; transcendentalists rejected this idea and proposed the abolishment since their main goal is to create a self-reliant society without oppressing the other people. The United States had a long and turbulent history of slavery and the effects of this system demeaned the African-Americans to the point that they cannot stand on their own in order to live.
“Lack of self-reliance can create a potential ‘time-bomb’, particularly in difficult economic times Eventualities such as serious illness, injury or death of the provider or simply unjust behavior of the provider may leave the dependent person helpless and distressed. In some such cases of dependency there is also the potential that the dependent person may have to live in subjection to, and at the mercy of, the provider, which in turn would lead to distress for the dependent person.” (Rajapakse 72-73).
Despite the heavy criticism, the transcendentalist movement created a legacy of new thinking based on the oriental philosophies centered on the purpose of the man’s existence on the Earth in the absence of material gains.
WORKS CITED
Birch, Thomas D. "Toward a Better Order: The Economic Thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson." The New England Quarterly 68.3 (1995): 385-401. Web. JSTOR.
Granger, Michel. "Antimodern Thoreau." Thoreauvian Modernities: Transatlantic Conversations on an American Icon. Eds. Francois Specq, Laura Dassow Walls, and Michel Granger. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2013. Web. JSTOR.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Man the Reformer." 1841. Nature: Addresses and Lectures. Boston/Cambridge: James Munroe & Co., 1849. Web. Google Book.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "The Transcendentalist." 1841. Nature: Addresses and Lectures. Boston/Cambridge: James Munroe & Co., 1849. Web. Google Book.
Macionis, John J., Juanne Nancarrow-Clarke, and Linda M. Gerber. Sociology Canadian Edition. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall Canada, Inc., 1994. Print.
Rajapakse, Kingsley. The Way to Inner Peace: Buddhism, Science, & Uncommon Sense for Daily Living. 2nd Ed. Penetang, ON: Serena Publications, 2003. Web. PDF File.
