section_path: Characteristics
section_name: Characteristics
paragraph_text: Characteristics
  
  Changes, mostly seen as advances, in all areas of human activity— politics, industry, society, economics, commerce, transport, communication, mechanization, automation, science, medicine, technology, religion, the arts, and other aspects of culture —appear to have transformed an Old World into the Modern or New World. In each case, the identification of the change over time can be used to demarcate the old and old-fashioned from the modern.
  
  Starting in western countries, the modern world has seen a systematic re-evaluation of value systems, monarchical regimes, and feudal economic systems. These have often been replaced by democratic and liberal ideas in the areas of politics, science, psychology, sociology, and economics.
  
  Some events of modern history, though born out of context not entirely new, show a new way of perceiving the world. The concept of modernity interprets the general meaning of these events and seeks explanations for major developments. Historians analyze the events taking place in Modern Times, since the so-called " Middle Ages " (between Modern and Ancient Times).