The term modernity defines the socio-cultural and economic era that we live in, having originated with the Renaissance some five hundred years ago in Western Europe. The modern ear was formulated over a long process of social, cultural, technological, and economic change that was driven by a number of major transformations. In art, this took the form of the Renaissance. In thinking, modern philosophy and the Scientific Revolution transformed human’s understanding of the world and their place within it. In society, the Enlightenment defined a new set of principles for organizing social institutions. In technology and economic organization, this transformation took place in the Industrial Revolution which created a new form of technology infrastructure and the capitalist system. As a historical category, modernity refers to a period marked by a questioning or rejection of tradition; the prioritization of individualism, freedom and formal equality; faith in inevitable social, scientific and technological progress; rationalization and professionalization; a movement from feudalism and agrarianism toward capitalism and the market economy; industrialization, urbanization and secularization; the development of the nation-state and its constituent institutions.