The World Crisis—Some Long-Term Trends

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 51, 1 July 1932, Page 27

The World Crisis—Some Long-Term Trends

(By Mr.

W. T. G.

Airey

M.A., Acting

Professor of History, Auckland Uni-

versity. College.)

"THE general theme of the series is the "lag" of social and political consciousness and control behind material development. The present crisis is not'so much the aftermath of the war as the result of long-term trends during thé 19th century, leading to maladjustment of which the war was an episode. No. 1: Man Conquers Matter (From 1YA, Wednesday, July 6, * 7.30 p.m) ‘THE 19th and. 20th centuries have been marked by: an unprecedented. rapidity of development in the material sphere, due to the. application of s¢ience to the production of wealth. ‘his is visible in industry, transport, coinmunication, and has been accompanied: by the growth ‘of a delicate finance system: The result ‘is a shrinkage’.of the world. and the intimate. material interdependence of the world’s people. . Hence we are living in a very’ changed’ world to which our political and social thinking has’ not been adjusted. Some aspects of. this changed. world are the’ migration .of people, (British Commonwealth) and the migration of capital in the quest for raw materials, markets, and fields for -investmente.g., railways, telegraphs, In industrial countries there has been a growth of urban as against rural population involving new conditions of life and problems of government. In . other parts the latest developments this new civilisation have been brought suddenly in contact with (a) old and different civilisations, e.g., China, and (b) ' primitive: civilisation, e.g., tropical Africa: and the Pacific Islands. A discussion of thé methods by which this "expansion of Europe" ‘has been carried: out and of ‘the problems: that have arisen; and of the use man has made of ‘his conquest of matter-e.g., armaments, ‘chemical warfare.