1. Major breakthroughs in physics, astronomy, mathematics, and anatomy resting on the new scientific principles of reason, doubt, observation, generalization, and testing by experiment overturned accepted ideas about nature and laid the foundations for modern science.
2. Cultural styles evolved, from the distortion of Mannerism to the drama of the Baroque and the discipline of Classicism.
3. Seventeenth-century society was hierarchical, although mobility was becoming increasingly common in the higher orders.
4. The traditional village was changing and being pulled into the activities of the territorial state, a process that often involved wrenching dislocations for the people involved.
5. While general attitudes were marked by belief in magic and mystical forces, these came to have less impact on public policy and the general culture as educated opinion became increasingly skeptical of them.
6. Both elite and popular culture generally followed a trajectory from passion and turmoil to restraint and order similar to the transition in politics and international relations during the same period.
