Contributing Factors to Progressive Movement

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Multiple factors influenced and contributed to the Progressive Movement in the 20th century. The middle class, muckrakers, and scientific management are just a few of these. The Progressives held democratic values and they believed that they could improve human society by having fair laws and an honest government. A large portion of the Progressive Movement was made of the persons of the middle class; they were doctors, lawyers, ministers, storekeepers and office workers, etc. They took their civil duties extremely seriously. And so, ministers of protestant churches began to teach a code of social responsibilities, for example they requested honesty, and cared for those who were less fortunate. Muckrakers are defined as one who spreads real or alleged scandals about another person, and usually for political gain. During the Progressive Movement the muckrakers tended to expose those higher up in society for who they really are, and what they were really doing with their power. In turn, this taught the public that they couldn’t always trust government officials. Muckrakers paved the way for the correction of these problems that the officials created. Upton Sinclair is a famous muckraker that wrote The Jungle. He exposed the meat packing industry and its horrible health conditions. The concept of scientific management also came out of the Progressive Movement. Fredrick W. Taylor timed the output of factory workers and discovered way of organizing people into a time-saving system called the Scientific Management System. This system saved loads of times, and caused a downfall of political bosses and their corruption. People realized just how much they opposed democracy. In conclusion, the middle class helped society by doing things like caring for the needy, the muckrakers were able to get those high up officials who were up to no good out
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