Do you agree that using the terms 20th Century and 21st Century blurs the distinctions between decades?

Question

For me I would say they do, because they cause both of they're constituent-decades in both centuries to seem less distinct than they really are and try to bundle-them up too much in one homogeneous-bag as if decades in both the 20th and 21st Century are no-more different from each-other than say decades in the Medieval-Rennaissance times just for example.

What do you think though? Do you believe saying 20th Century and 21st Century causes both of they're decades to seem less distinct? Why or why not?

? · Accepted Answer

Dividing centuries into decades is arbitrary and simply convenient. Eras are a bit different, which is why historians sometimes call the period between 1800-1914 the long 19th Century.

? · Answer

It's no different than marking the years between birthdays. If you didn't keep track of your birthday, you would have to calculate how old you were whenever you're asked.

Imagine how inconvenient this would be on an employment application.

Dividing the centuries as is done is simply an easier way to reference something in the past. Here's another example - when the pilgrims first settled in America (1670). If centuries weren't grouped in such a convenient way to quickly access the information, learning history would be very difficult.

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No.  Not at all.  In fact, I think your argument is patently ridiculous.

Anonymous · Answer

It is a convenient way of understanding history compressed into a very short timeline. Historians realise this: for example architects didn't wake up on the 1st August 1714 and say, "Right lads we are doing 'Georgian' now."  Instead they can discern trends by decades to see how things evolve. Key events will always be identified by the year in which they occurred.

We have far more detail on events by year or decade than we ever had before. In time only the significant events will be remembered as we move forward. It so happens that Queen Victoria conveniently popped off just as the new century was starting, marking the shift from Victorian to Edwardian periods, although such distinctions ( or others such as fin de siecle) are quite artificial.

? · Answer

We're not distant enough from the 20th century yet to characterize it, and there hasn't been enough of the 21st century yet to say what is or will be most characteristic of it. I suspect something about computers or artificial intelligence will make the 21st century more distinctly different from the 20th. This is for our distant ancestors, not yet mature or even born to decide. As for the decades, that tends to fade. in the 20th century only the 20's, 30's, and 40's seem really distinct. Were the 1970's and 1980's that much different?

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Do you agree that using the terms 20th Century and 21st Century blurs the distinctions between decades?

5 Answers