Conclusion 781

characteristics of specific races, or peo­
ples. “Social Darwinists” misapplied the
theory of “survival of the fittest” to soci­
ety, including international sports compe­
tition. Games became hotly competitive.
Moreover, the development of feminism
in Western Europe may have contributed
to what has been called a “crisis of mas­

culinity,” by which many men saw the
strengthening of the “weaker sex” as the
weakening of men. By this view, growing
interest in sports competition was an
affirmation of masculinity. Furthermore,
the emerging interest in the times it took
to run distances may have reflected fasci­
nation with scientific management.
The burgeoning interest in sports
touched, above all, the young. In Germany,
“wandering youth” clubs (Wandervogel)
became popular, sending young boys out to
camp under the stars, In Great Britain,
Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941)
founded the Boy Scouts. After being rejected for admission to the University
of Oxford and finding his vocation among young men in the army, Baden­
Powell in 1908 organized the Boy Scouts in the hope of developing “among
boys ... a spirit of self-sacrifice and patriotism, and generally to prepare
them to become good citizens.” The uniform Baden-Powell had worn in
South Africa—a Stetson hat, neckerchief, and khaki shorts—became that
of the Boy Scouts, and their motto, “Be prepared.”
Interest in sports touched all classes and reflected class differences. The
poet Rudyard Kipling (1865—1936), who disliked sports in general, called
cricket players (who tended to be from a loftier social class than his own)
“fools.” Football players, most of whom were from the working class, he
dismissed as “oafs.” People of great means were no longer the only people
able to enjoy sports. While the upper classes had their own sporting asso­
ciations, which retained a preference for horse racing—“the sport of
kings”—working-class cycling and gymnastic clubs also began to spring up
in the 1880s in Western Europe, particularly as workers won a shorter
workweek and workday.

Robert Baden-Powell, founder of

the Boy Scouts.

Conclusion

The Second Industrial Revolution transformed the way many Europeans

lived. Electricity brought light to growing cities and towns, along whose