What is Progressivism? Name two ways it reshaped American life in dramatic fashion drawing from culture, society or politics. Was it an...

Progressivism in the United States was a movement based on the philosophy that progress in science, technology, economics, social organization, and politics is necessary for improving the human condition. The Progressive Era in America reached its height from the 1890s to World War 1 and continued until the onset of the Great Depression. The impulses driving the Progressive movement can be seen as emerging from the desire for a Utopian society, which resulted in various Utopian communities being established in the United States throughout the 19th century.

Progressivism reshaped American life, especially in the areas of social class and business. Michael E. McGerr in A Fierce Discontent argues that the wide range of progressive impulses all revolved around the issue of class. He sees Progressivism as the American middle class’ response to extreme income inequality and the excesses of the industrial upper class. Increased regulation of business and the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson helped establish the role of the middle class within the new industrial order.

Robert H. Zieger’s America’s Great War addresses the issue of whether Progressivism was an inspirational movement or an attempt at social control, arguing that both motives influenced reforms. Zieger describes liberal Progressives who celebrated cultural experimentation and diversity while calling for order in politics and business. In contrast, control Progressives are those who hoped to bolster their own traditional white culture, military preparedness, and social discipline. The control Progressives, Zieger says, won out over their more liberal counterparts.