6.2.5   Progressivism

(This is an archived page, from the Patterns of Power Edition 3 book.  Current versions are at book contents).

The term 'progressivism' is used here to describe a tolerance of change, a welcoming of different points of view and a readiness to challenge existing institutions.  It is the opposite of conservatism in two key ways:

·     Progressives believe that new rational thought should be applied to the world as it is now.  They might not accept past experience as a justification for the status quo, in contrast to Burkean pragmatism (6.2.4.1).  Condorcet, for example, wrote:

“everything that bears the imprint of time must inspire distrust more than respect”.[1]

·     They believe in ‘progress’ – making people's lives better – by politically-initiated change.  This is a viewpoint which is diametrically opposed to the conservative preference for small government and ‘laissez-faire’ (6.2.4.3).

The following sub-sections identify different degrees of progressivism:

·     It can just mean a desire to improve people's lives, and to respond pragmatically to externally-imposed changes (6.2.5.1). 

·     Some progressives, though, are radicals and want to impose major ideologically-based changes on society (6.2.5.2). 

·     The most extreme form of progressivism is revolution: totally changing a country’s governance, inevitably using some violence (6.2.5.3).