Progressivism
Encyclopedia : P : PR : PRO : Progressivism
| Part of the Politics series on Progressivism This article has some overlap with these other political positions |
| Schools |
| American Progressivism |
| New Deal liberalism |
| Economic progressivism |
| Educational progressivism |
| Social Progressivism |
| Techno-progressivism |
| Ideas |
| Conservation ethic |
| Efficiency Movement |
| Economic interventionism |
| Freedom |
| Worker rights |
| Mixed economy |
| Positive liberty |
| Social justice |
| Welfare of Society |
| Programs |
| The Square Deal |
| The New Nationalism |
| The New Freedom |
| The New Deal |
| The New Frontier |
| ยท |
Progressivism is a political philosophy whose adherents promote public policies that foster social change. As a broad characterization of political leanings, political progressivism mostly refers to the politics of social progressivism and economic progressivism. Progressivism may also mean preferring moderate change.
Definitions
History
United States
Progressives dominated moderate American politics from the 1890s to the 1920s. Today the term refers to movements on the left ranging from liberal to social democrat. Recently, many on the left have been replacing the term Liberal with Progressive, as some contend that the former now has a decidedly negative association in the media.
Early in the 20th century, progressives worked to reform the political process in the US. In several states, they succeeded in reducing the power of political bosses by instituting presidential primaries and non-partisan elections. They exposed corruption, and established public control of the existing monopolies over public resources, such as water and gas works. They were the driving force behind the reform and regulation of child labor, the institution of public education, and the right of women to vote. Their efforts contributed to the writing and ratification of the 17th Amendment (the direct election of senators) in 1913, and the 19th Amendment (right of women to vote in federal elections) in 1920. They sought to improve transportation for the public. They also pressured state legislatures to raise the property tax in order to spend more money on schools, parks and other public facilities. They usually worked at the state level to make changes.
Progressivism versus Liberalism
While the word progressive has recently become equated with American liberalism, the former seems to imply more interest in economic issues such as distribution of income, corporate power and environmental sustainability, while liberalism has a connotation more connected to cultural issues such as civil rights and personal freedoms.
Progressivism versus Conservatism and Libertarianism
Implicit in the word "progressivism" is the assumption that the policies advocated by progressives are a form of progress. However, since different groups of people have different views on the meaning of "progress", not everyone agrees that progressivism truly promotes progress.
The main opponents of progressivism are conservatism, and libertarianism.
Conservatives, by definition, advocate tradition and social stability. They are skeptical of notions of "progress" and social change - in any direction - believing that it is best to retain social relations that have been proven stable by past experience.
Libertarians, on the other hand, advocate their own brand of social change, which is in many ways opposed to the kind of change advocated by progressives. For this reason, libertarians claim that they are the true promoters of progress, and that the policies of progressivism are actually "regressive". A notable supporter of this view is Brink Lindsey, an economist working with the Cato Institute. Lindsey believes that by terming themselves progressives, American liberals and social democrats have put a positive spin on what he claims to be regressive economic tendencies. Being a libertarian, he argues in favor of free market capitalism and believes that progressive economic policies (such as minimum wages, income taxes, payroll taxes, most social safety nets and trade barriers) help to increase unemployment among the poor and unskilled, as well as increase costs for all members of society.
Progressives counter that free market capitalism can be demonstrated to be regressive due to negative social consequences caused by its rejection or mitigation of labor policies to improve corporate efficiency, and the fact that it is often at odds with fair trade and other movements that argue for labor rights and social justice in international relations and economics. They further argue that the kind of policies advocated by libertarians like Brink Lindsey would and have created severe poverty, widened the gap between rich and poor and allowed those who are already rich to gain an excessively high amount of both wealth and power over the rest of society.
Progressivism versus Socialism
The majority of progressives, especially in the United States, do not advocate a full shift to either a socialist or a government-planned economy, though many of these progressives do support such programs as universal health care and tuition-free higher education.
However, some self-identified "progressives" do have strong socialist leanings, but may prefer not to use the word socialism due to its rather negative stigma in the US.
Using the term "socialist" to describe American progressives in Europe, would however be natural and uncontroversial, as this word is often used neutrally to describe interventionists.