Perceptual Experience In The 19th Century

When contemplating the transformation of perceptual experience in the Nineteenth century, a variety of factors are important to consider. Firstly, a shift occurred in regards to how public spaces functioned; the emergence of new proximities between urbanizing classes and the notion of “manners” developed, reconfiguring notions of what public behavior is deemed “acceptable.” Secondly, the visual came to be increasing privileged over other sensory experiences, which ties to economic developments and the commodification of experience throughout the Nineteenth century. Thirdly, new display practices and technologies developed that modified the way individual subjects understood their presence and participation in society; what is seen objectively and subjectively became a significant question that powerfully impacted notions of perceptual experience. Fourthly, recently developed technological advancements were made that emphasized mechanization both in terms of the internal and external human body: for example, new vision theories and the increasing
In pre-modern times, agrarian life called for a cyclical organization of temporality. Within these cycles, carnivals existed as sites of disorder and debauchery on the street, where the line between spectator and performer was blurred. However, as the world began to modernize, new urban classes began to emerge; economic and religious shifts, as well as the role of individual self-fashioning, altered long-standing traditions of the carnival, and a new individual and collective subjectivity regarding the spectacle of disorder and violence called for a movement towards