Progress

<p>Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of <a href="/facts/Progressivism/1vQyxtRD">progressivism</a>, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in <a href="/facts/Technology/9Uav5WVR">technology</a>, <a href="/facts/Science/IJoaD7rs">science</a>, and <a href="/facts/Social_organization/EDpvow0U">social organization</a> efficiency – the latter being generally achieved through direct societal action, as in <a href="/facts/Social_enterprise/bBPAD8Py">social enterprise</a> or through <a href="/facts/Activism/SCUlsxxH">activism</a>, but being also attainable through natural <a href="/facts/Sociocultural_evolution/7KgkjD6H">sociocultural evolution</a> – that progressivism holds all human societies should strive towards.
</p><p>The concept of progress was introduced in the early-19th-century <a href="/facts/Social_theory/vJF8Fp5m">social theories</a>, especially <a href="/facts/Cultural_evolution/sbX30v6e">social evolution</a> as described by <a href="/facts/Auguste_Comte/Jr0EkS1q">Auguste Comte</a> and <a href="/facts/Herbert_Spencer/d1qsSq4r">Herbert Spencer</a>. It was present in the <a href="/facts/Age_of_Enlightenment/Uj2Fa8Mk">Enlightenment</a>'s <a href="/facts/Philosophy_of_history/gRxLws9I">philosophies of history</a>. As a goal, social progress has been advocated by varying realms of political ideologies with different theories on how it is to be achieved.
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Progress open-in-new

Progress