Unit 7 Culture & Society: How Ideas, Art, Reform, and Mass Politics Reshaped 19th-Century Europe

Realism

A mid-19th-century movement in art and literature that depicted the world truthfully and concretely, focusing on ordinary people and everyday life without idealization.

Idealization

Presenting subjects as better, more heroic, or more perfect than they are; realists rejected this to show society plainly.

Social critique (in realist art)

The implied argument created by showing modern life and its harsh conditions, inviting viewers to judge social systems like class inequality or exploitation.

Gustave Courbet

French painter strongly associated with Realism; centered ordinary laborers and rural life, challenging elite ideas about “worthy” subjects.

Charles Dickens

19th-century novelist who portrayed the human costs of industrialization and urban poverty, often used as literary evidence of social problems.

Gustave Flaubert

Realist novelist (e.g., Madame Bovary) who explored middle-class aspirations and disillusionment as social commentary.

Henrik Ibsen

Playwright who used domestic settings to expose social pressures and hypocrisy, showing how everyday life could be politically revealing.

Impressionism

Late-19th-century movement that aimed to capture the fleeting “impression” of a moment, emphasizing light, atmosphere, and perception with visible brushstrokes and bright color.

Perception (Impressionist goal)

A focus on how the eye experiences a scene in the moment—changing light and movement—rather than sharply outlined, studio-polished objects.

Claude Monet

Central impressionist painter; the movement’s name is linked to his work Impression, Sunrise.

Salon (official Salon system)

The traditional, institutionally controlled art exhibition/jury system in France that defined what counted as “good” academic art.

Salon des Refusés (1863)

Exhibition of works rejected by the official Salon; illustrates impressionists/innovators challenging academic authority and cultural gatekeepers.

Realism vs. Impressionism (core contrast)

Realism emphasizes social reality and often class critique; Impressionism emphasizes modern perception, light, and immediacy while challenging artistic institutions.

Social reform (19th-century Europe)

A broad set of organized efforts and state policies responding to industrialization and social disruption, aiming to improve society and/or maintain order.

Social question

Shorthand for problems created by industrial capitalism (poverty, housing, wages, unemployment, stability) and debates over who should solve them and how.

Public health reform

Reform focused on sanitation, clean water, waste removal, and urban planning, reflecting the expanding role of modern states and city governments.

Labor reform

Laws and movements aimed at improving working conditions (hours, safety, child labor limits), showing that industrial capitalism required political management.

Factory Acts (Britain)

General term for 19th-century British factory-related laws that gradually increased regulation of labor conditions after public pressure.

Abolition of serfdom (Russia, 1861)

Reform under Alexander II ending legal serfdom; crucial because emancipation did not automatically bring prosperity or political stability.

Women’s rights activism (19th century)

Campaigns targeting education access, professional opportunities, married women’s legal/property status, and eventually suffrage (uneven and later).

Informal political influence

Ways excluded groups (especially women) shaped politics without voting—petitions, associations, journalism, boycotts, philanthropy, and reform campaigns.

State-led reform (conservative strategy)

Top-down reforms used by leaders to reduce support for revolution and manage social tensions, showing reform could serve stability and state power.

Bismarck’s social insurance (1880s)

German welfare measures (health, accident, old-age protections) promoted to undercut socialist appeal and strengthen loyalty to the nation-state.

Mass politics

A political system where large numbers of ordinary people engage through voting, parties, unions, rallies, and newspapers, shifting politics toward organized popular competition.

Political party (mass politics era)

An organization linking voters to lawmakers through membership, dues, candidate selection, newspapers/propaganda, and disciplined voting in legislatures.