What were the key tenets of progressive theory?

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Figure false: Tom Johnson
Figure false: The reform mayor of Cleveland from 1901 to 1909, Tom Johnson is shown here campaigning in Cleveland’s Wade Park in 1908. To get a three-cent streetcar fare and win the support of the working classes, Johnson instituted municipal ownership of the transit system. The Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.

PROGRESSIVISM EMPHASIZED action and experimentation. Dismissing the view that humans should leave progress to the dictates of natural selection, a new group of reform Darwinists argued that evolution could be advanced more rapidly if men and women used their intellects to improve society. In their zeal for action, progressives often showed an unchecked admiration for speed and efficiency that promoted scientific management and a new cult to improve productivity. These varied strands of progressive theory found practical application in state and local politics, where reformers challenged traditional laissez-faire government.

CHRONOLOGY

1883

  • – Lester Frank Ward champions reform Darwinism in Dynamic Sociology.

1910

  • – Progressive Hiram Johnson is elected governor of California.

1911

  • – Frederick Winslow Taylor pioneers “systematized shop management.”

1914

  • – Journalist Walter Lippmann calls for scientific techniques to control social change.