Mr. Lambsley's Strange Constitutional (Coffin 824-837)

So, the textbook mentions that there was a "discussion on the decline of the West amid a growing sense of cultural crisis" (Coffin 836-837) occurring in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having not read the entire chapter, I cannot comment on the philosophical aspect of this belief in the decay of Western civilization, but I think I can safely say that this belief was spurred on by all the new developments taking place in this period. For instance, what say you're a stiff-lipped British aristocrat leaving whatever your parliamentary building is called for your morning constitutional. Your name could Lambsley. As you walk out the door you hear two members of parliament speaking about socialism without disdain. Disturbed by this incident you hurry off but are immediately confronted by a women's suffrage rally! "Good heavens! What next?" you mumble, and you back away from such a mad gathering, but what is this you have now stumbled upon? It is an advertisement for some horrendously new-fangled contraption called a bi-cycle. You drop your cane and run, run without looking back. But what was the point of that "digression?" Mainly that a lot of new stuff was happening that hadn't happened before, or at least to so great an extent. If you happened to be like Mr. Lambsley, the changes of mass politics and consumer culture, not to mention of industry or philosophy, were probably a bit of a jolt.