Michael Mcgerr's Analysis Of The Progressive Era In America
435 Words2 Pages
Michael McGerr gives an analysis of the Progressive era in America. In doing so he addresses: That progressivism created political problems of its time. He informs the reader of the twentieth century helps explains the politics of the early twenty-first. Progressivism, the ideology of the crusading middle-class, offered the promise of opianism and generated a very big letdown. He informs the reader that the Progressive created a wide range of expectations. The expectations included ending class conflict, controlling big business, segregation, purification of politics, and the disciplining of leisure time. To prove his argument McGerr studies the Victorian middle-class or what many scholars call the Progressives. The struggle consisted of the…show more content… Individualism is when a person or persons achieve their goals by self-promotion or doing on your without the help of family and friends. He uses these concepts to show how the Victorian middle-class and the working-class was too extreme with their mutualism and the upper ten were too extreme with their individualism. McGerr focuses on the following problems: control of big business, changing the way people think, to end class-conflict, and to segregate people. (xv) McGerr uses the terms, mutualism and individualism to explain how things ended up in the progressive movement and eventually leads up to the conclusion and main argument of his book. The movement created a middle-class with aspirations for a better world and their lack of success explains the weak politics at the beginning of the twenty-first century. McGerr has provided the historical world with a eye opening piece of work. He has provided the academic world a good understanding of Progressive era. Who the Progressives actually are, and if the reformers against the middle-class were boom or bust. Even though he provides the reader with a lot of good information he does not stay consistent with he