Chapter 21 Notes

I. Origins of the Progressive Movement


A. Grassroots activists
1. Progressive movement, unlike the Populists, was urban-based.
2. White collar workers (grew from 5.1 million in 1900 to 10.5 million in 1920) formed professional organizations and joined progressive groups
3. Among the white collar workers were women who accounted for over 30% of the white-collar population by 1920.
4. Middle-class housewives who felt isolated also joined progressive organizations
5. Women’s clubs, settlement houses, and urban improvement organizations were forerunners of the movement.
6. Most progressives belonged to the native-born middle class; however working class immigrants provided support and too the lead on issues.

B. Progressive Causes
1. Diverse and sometimes contradictory causes
2. Reformers were not radicals- believed that social problems could be solved through scientific study and organized effort.
3. Many reformers focused on regulating business
4. Others cared about protecting workers and the urban poor
5. Some focused on restructuring government, particularly at state and municipal level
6. A significant proportion concentrated on a variety of social control strategies- limiting immigration, temperance, imposing morality and limiting social disorder

C. Ideological underpinnings
1. Late 19th and early 20th century intellectuals began to question and promote alternatives to social Darwinism
2. Thornstein Veblen- Economist who exposed and satirized the habits of the business elite, coined the term “conspicuous consumption”, argued that workers and engineers were better equipped to lead society
3. William James- Harvard professor who emphasized the importance of action in resolving social problems (brother of Henry James).
4. Herbert Croly- called for “activist government” and for intellectuals to play a larger role, founded magazine The New Republic
5. Jane Addams- settlement house leader, argued that the middle class must unite with the working class to demand better conditions in factories
6. John Dewey- philosopher and educational reformer who promoted equal opportunity and experiential learning
7. Oliver Wendell Holmes- Law professor who became Supreme Court justice, argued that the law must evolve as soviet changes, promoted much reform legislation

D. Industrial Novelists, Journalists and Artists
1. Muckrakers- journalists and authors who focused on exposing social and political problems
2. Frank Norris- wrote The Octopus, exposing corrupt business practices in the railroad industry
3. Theodore Dreiser- wrote The Financier, exposing the dishonesty and lack of social consciousness displayed by the wealthy
4. Upton Sinclair- wrote The Jungle, exposing the disgusting conditions at meat packing plants (led to Roosevelt passing the Pure Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act in 1906)
5. Lincoln Steffens- The Shame of the Cities
6. Jacobs Riis
7. Ida Tarbell-History of the Standard Oil Company
8. David Grahm Phillips- Treason of the Senate
9. Articles published by myriad articles in progressive magazines
10. “Ashcan School” painters focused on portraying the harshness of urban slum
11. Photographers, like Lewis Hinse, focused on factory conditions and child labor