Isms...

-The nineteenth century was an age of -isms. In history today we took hold of our learning without doing some silly little inconvenient group project and went around the classroom naming off all/some/most of the –isms that defined the period 1815-1917. In this activity, I learned that “anarchism” is a word. {Since Spell-Check acknowledges it, I can’t contest.} Some of the -isms? You know them. You just don’t think about them.

Socialism

Nationalism

>National Socialism

Romanticism

Nihilism

Anarchism

Communism

Materialism

Patriotism

Impressionism

Expressionism

Industrialism

If you take my teacher’s words to heart, people should be able to come up with about 60 terms (around the class twice.) We were spared, and only had to go around the classroom once.

So, the next time you think of, create, or participate in an –ism of some sort, think of the 19^th century, which most probably gave that new –ism to the world. Or at least the idea of it. Existentialism only had its roots in the 19^th century. The rest came later.