Before revision: Background It is difficult to imagine the intellectual concern of late 19th and early 20th Century over the collective drift in Western Civilization away from old-guard monarchial and hierarchical societal structures (i.e., one's station in life being determined primarily by birth), toward the relative uncertainty and instability embodied in such Enlightenment Era ideals such as democracy, nationhood, class struggle (Karl Marx), human equality, humanism, egalitarianism, utilitarianism and the like.
After revision: Background It is difficult to imagine the intellectual concern of late 19th and early 20th century over the collective drift in Western civilization away from old-guard monarchicalthe and hierarchical societal structures (i.e., one's station in life being determined primarily by birth), toward the relative uncertainty and instability embodied in such Enlightenment Era ideals such as democracy, nationhood, class struggle (Karl Marx), human equality, humanism, egalitarianism, utilitarianism and the like.