Progressivism: Social Reform to Improve Lives - Essay Sample

Introduction

Progressivism is an ideology that supports change as a way of improving the lives of people in society. Progressivism came about in the United States from around 1890 to 1920. This ideology was meant to bring change in the community in different institutions such as politics, education, economic, industrial, and developing technological advancement. This philosophy was in support of social reforms that were meant to improve the lives of individuals in the community. Unlike conservatives, who believed in the status quo, progressivists believed in reform for a better living. The tenants of progressivism include empowerment for all, embracing change, and the use of Science and Technology to advance life. The changes include the growth of the corporation, change of child labor systems as well as formulating education policies.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

American Policies

Unlike conservatism, progressivism philosophy advocate for social development, political development, economic development, and social growth. Changes that came about include, coming up with ways of conserving the environment; incorporate policies and change in the education sector

Progressivism and Politics in the USA

When conservativist believed in the status quo, progressivists focused on how to improve ways of the legislature policies. Some changes, therefore, had to be made to make the system useful in its operation, which touched on areas like bureaucracy marketing democracy and administration. The order of authority was also changed and well organized by professionals who offered expert services, which brought about a municipal administration (Holzman, 2016).

In politics, progressives emancipated the middle-class residents and taught them on their civic rights, such as the right to vote (Kovak & Lessem, 2020). Newspapers and magazines were also engineered to instruct middle-class citizens on how to vote and why democracy is vital to push the state forward and in realizing their dreams. Corruption was shunned, and violence in families was discouraged. Citizens were taught to live in harmony to create a free environment for development.

Progressivism and Corporations

Progressivism advocates for changes in the cooperates. Large corporate were regulated to liberate people from restrictions of industrial capitalism. Corporates were regulated using regulation such as Trust busting, which advocated that industries should not be monopolized since this was seen as a natural way of growing economy. This school of thought argued that institutions should not suppress competition since it was essential for the progress of any business.

Anti-competitive ideas such as Monopoly was discouraged since this was seen unfair to small businesses. At about that time, President Theodore Roosevelt brought down 44 Industries that were exploiting smaller enterprises. Some scholars argued that more significant economies were undermining small Industries because the smaller Industries did not have the advantage of economies of scale. Therefore, the government started to regulate cooperation for the interests of the public; these came to be known as the new nationalism.

Social Work

Progressivism improved social work tremendously. Training programs were put to enhance the welfare of charity in the United States. Untrained professionals in charity work were taken over by trained professionals and not just amateurs. Social work leadership in slums was restructured, and only social workers operated them, being helped by volunteers located in the slums. The state of Settlement houses was raised as a way of improving the living standards of the people living in such sentiments cultural education, and programs that were made to improve the lives of the slum dwellers were put in place, and this enhanced the lives of them some people incredibly. Policies on prostitution were also made whereby this act was very discouraged as it was seen as an enemy of progress when women engaged in it. Child labor laws were also engineered to protect working children from being exploited by their employers.

In this new policy, these children were given a chance to improve their lives by accessing education and other programs that would make them better human beings in the future. Labor law also structured whereby people were only supposed to work for 8-hour shifts. Due to this, new policy strikes that were common in workers in Industries produced and working conditions became better through compensation laws for workers and the law of minimum wage for women (Kovak & Lessem, 2020).

Illegal sale of liquor was also discouraged, as this was seen as a source of criminality in the United States. Progressives argued that taking alcohol quotes deteriorate the lives of the Citizens of us children and women in particular. Eugenics also sprang up as people were sensitized on the need to practice family planning whereby, they were taught to give birth to few children that they could manage economically and give Standard Life

Lycurgus is a philosopher in Sparta who took part in making universal laws that were meant to improve the lives of the Spartans; he was a reformist lawgiver. He promoted the virtues of austerity, equality in the society, and Fitness in the military. He took part in making policies through his philosophies in Sparta does transforming society completely. He is also responsible for four institutionalizing Sparta that so the rules of power in the country value lighting the Citizens under one of government (Gutzke, 2016). Lycurgus did not just want the loss of Sparta to be founded only on a constitution but to be understood and followed by the heart by the Citizens, and the Citizens should see these laws as a factor that makes them people.

If I were to become Lycurgus today in the United States, there are several policies that I would change, which do not seem to be focused on improving the lives of the Citizens of the USA but benefiting few people in power.

If I had a chance to change some policies in the USA, I would start with the immigration policy on immigrants who are in the USA illegally. I would mend the deportation law of the immigrants and provided a basis for them to defend themselves before they can be deported, on the other hand, I would ensure that these migrants have a chance to be heard in the court of law instead of being ambushed and forced to go back home (Link, 1997). I would also amend this policy such that when an immigrant is found in the United States illegally, he or she before the petition should be allowed to own the assets or the wealth that he had accrued while working in the USA.

The other policy that I would create would be in the health department concerning abortion. I would not allow abortion of any kind to be undertaken by pregnant mothers in the USA. This is because every person has a right to life, and even fetuses are human beings. Denying a person right to live is should be breaking the law unlike the practice of the policy in us whereby mothers are allowed to abort if they do not want the baby but with professional help from doctors and nurses

The last policy that I would amend is the policy that allows high school students to work. Letting her school students get into the workforce denies them the right to enjoy their life as children because they find themselves entangled in other responsibilities that are beyond the year maturity. I would make parents be the only source of money for their children and not the children going to work because the children should dedicate their lives as teenagers in school and hunting their lives for future better opportunities. One of the Year category and the first pure Evoke porcelain

I am very sure that some critics will come up and oppose my policies in the policy regarding immigration they may argue that any person coming to the USA should follow the right channel such as by getting a green card. Still, then I will refute this because getting a green card is not as easy as it may seem.

On my second policy concerning abortion, some critics may argue that someone has a right to have the number of kids that he or she wants and maybe defend that a fetus is not yet a human form. I will protect myself by link straight to the fact that anything that is inside the womb of a woman is a human being. Lastly, concerning teenagers working, critics may argue that teenagers need to seek some financial independence so that they can lessen the burden from their parents, but then this would not be right according to me because these children need to grow as children and avoid doing things that are beyond their maturity.

References

Golant, S. M. (2019). Women caring for our ageing in place seniors will lose out because of US immigration policies. Journal of ageing & social policy, 31(3), 189-196.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08959420.2019.1603535

Holzman, P. (2016). February 14, 2016, Curriculum Philosophy-Progressivism. http://onlinesciencepublishing.com/assets/journal/JOU0024/ART00221/1562562151_AJEL-2019-4(1)-36-49.pdf

Kovak, B. K., & Lessem, R. (2020). How do US Visa Policies Affect Unauthorized Immigration? Journal of Monetary Economics. doi: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2020.03.001

Link, W. A. (1997). The paradox of southern progressivism, 1880-1930. Univ of North Carolina Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XcmFO5JfqtAC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=progrevism+in+usa&ots=xz4Q-mhN8s&sig=DKRPrtVLz5cH5NMuxdER8A1DA7U&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=progrevism%20in%20usa&f=false

Gutzke, D. (2016). Britain and transnational progressivism. Springer. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=6749376727420663640&hl=en&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5