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''See also Decadent Movement '' Decadence refers to a personal trait and to a state of society. In a person, or used to describe a person's lifestyle, it describes a lack of moral and intellectual discipline. In a society, it describes corrosive Decline due to a perceived erosion of necessary Moral Tradition s. (A society that discards unnecessary and outmoded values would not be considered decadent. Although one's own perception of "unnecessary and outmoded" may significantly vary.) Due to the subjective nature of morality, whether a society is decadent or not is a matter of debate, though certain Historical societies (such as Ancient Rome near its end) are generally held to have been decadent, as decadence may lead to objective decline. Decadent societies are often prosperous but usually have severe social and economic Inequality , to such a degree that the Upper Class becomes either complacent or greedy, while the Lower Class es become hopeless and apathetic. The Middle Class may exhibit either or both patterns, or it may vanish entirely. Poor leadership is generally held to be both a cause and a symptom of decadence, as the lifestyle of a decadent individual is usually considered to be incompatible with responsibility. Applied to the arts, decadence implies an elevation of self-indulgence and pretension over Effort and Talent ; when applied to science and the professions, it describes an erosion of Professional Ethics . Individual or collective Greed is generally disliked in societies with strong moral beliefs, and for this reason, societies that nurture it are sometimes accused of decadence. Societies that persist in a state of decadence may become unable or unwilling to commit to their own . Contemporary argues that decadent lifestyles in the Developed World (with the sole exception of the United States ) have led to demographic and social decay. In literature, the Decadent Movement —late Nineteenth Century '' Fin De Siècle '' writers who were associated with Symbolism or the Aesthetic Movement —was first given its name by hostile critics, and then the name was triumphantly adopted by some writers themselves. These "decadents" relished artifice over the earlier Romantics' naive view of nature (see Jean-Jacques Rousseau ). Some of these writers were influenced by the tradition of the Gothic Novel and by the poetry and fiction of Edgar Allan Poe . LENINIST USE Vladimir Lenin continued and extended the use of the word "decadence" in his theory of Imperialism to refer to economic matters underlying political manifestations. According to Lenin, Capitalism had reached its highest stage and could no longer provide for the general development of society. He expected reduced vigor in economic activity and a growth in unhealthy economic phenomena, reflecting capitalism's gradually decreasing capacity to provide for social needs and preparing the ground for Socialist revolution in the West . Politically, World War I proved the decadent nature of the advanced capitalist countries to Lenin, that Capitalism had reached the stage where it would destroy its own prior achievements more than it would advance. Followers of Trotsky have split over the extent to which to uphold Lenin as against Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution . However, followers of Stalin have generally defended the "decadence" thesis of Lenin's theory of imperialism against Trotskyists . Trotskyists tend to stress that capitalism in the West is still Progressive and marching forward technologically with the steady accumulation of capital. Followers of Lenin such as Mao and Stalin have argued that there is nothing left for Imperialism to do but die, because it has nothing progressive to contribute anymore. One who directly opposed the idea of decadence as expressed by Lenin was José Ortega Y Gasset in '' The Revolt Of The Masses ''( 1930 ). He argued that the " Mass Man " had the notion of material progress and scientific advance deeply inculcated to the extent that it was an expectation. He also argued that contemporary progress was opposite the true decadence of the Roman Empire . SEE ALSO
Thinkers of decadence:
POP CULTURE AND DECADENCE
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