Glossary of Terms

A Work in Progress

Learning Module One

1. Communism (Communist Party): A system of government and political organization based on Marxist-Leninist ideals, in which a single authoritarian party controls the economy through state ownership of production in order to reach the final stage of Marxist theory, in which the state dissolves and economic goods are disturbed evenly for the common good. Communists around the globe encouraged the spread of communism in other nations in hopes of fomenting a worldwide revolution. At its peak in the 1930s, the Communist Party of the United States worked closely with labor unions and insisted that only the overthrow of the capitalist system by its workers could save the victims of the Great Depression. After World War II, the Communist power and aspirations of the Soviet Union were considered to be a direct threat to American democracy.

2. Democracy: A system of government in which the people have the power to rule, either directly or indirectly through their elected representatives.
   
   
3. Feminism: The belief that men and women have an inherent (inborn) right to equal social, political, and economic opportunities. The suffrage movement (1890s – 192) and second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s were the most visible and successful manifestations of feminism, but feminist ideas were expressed in a variety of statements and movements as early as the late 18^th century and continue to be expressed in the 21^st century.
   
   
4. Laissez – faire: The doctrine, based on economic theory, that government should not interfere in business or the economy. Laissez-faire ideas guided American government policy in the late 19^th century and conservative politics in the 20^th century. Business interests that supported laissez-faire in the late 19^th century accepted government interference when it took the form of tariffs or subsides that worked to their benefit. In recent history, business interests that support laissez-faire accept government interference when it takes the form of favorable tax laws that benefit large corporations. Broader uses of the term refer to the simple philosophy of abstaining from interference.
   
   
5. Liberalism: The political doctrine that government rests on the consent of the governed and is duty-bound to protect the freedom and property of the individual. In the 20^th century, liberalism became associated with the idea that government should regulate the economy and ensure the material well-being and individual rights of all people. See progressivism and social justice.
   
   
6. Nativism: Bias against immigrants and in favor of native-born inhabitants. American nativists especially favor persons who come from white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant lines over those from other racial, ethnic and religious heritages. Nativists may include former immigrants who view new immigrants as incapable of assimilation. Many nativists, such as members of the Know-Nothing Party in the 19^th century and the Ku Klux Klan through the contemporary period, voice anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic sentiments.

7. Progressivism, (progressive movement): A wide-ranged 20^th century reform movement that advocated government activism to mitigate the problems created by urban industrialization. Most specifically, the movement called for government Progressivism reached its peak in 1912 with the creation of the Progressive Party, which ran Theodore Roosevelt for president. The term progressivism has come to mean any general advocating of social welfare programs. In the United States, the Progressive Era was a period of reform which spanned from the 1890s to 1920. In that time progressives strongly opposed waste and corruption, seeking change in regard to workers’ rights and protection of the ordinary citizen in general. The reformers (and their opponents) were predominantly members of the middle class. Most were well educated white Protestants who lived in cities. Catholics, Jews and blacks crafted their own versions of the Progressive Movement. In general, progressives in pushed for social justice, general equality and public safety. Progressivism is still very much part of the dialogue of social reform and politics. For example, the belief by many politicians and citizens that the United States should have a national health care plan is an example of Progressivism.

8. Reform Darwinism: a social theory, based on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution that emphasized activism, arguing that humans could speed up evolution by altering the environment (conditions of housing, work, education in society). A challenge to social Darwinism, reform Darwinism condemned laissez-faire and demanded that the government take a more active approach to solving social problems. It became the ideological basis for progressive reform in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

9. Scientific management: A system of organizing work developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the late 19^th century to increase the efficiency and productivity by breaking tasks into their component parts and training workers to perform specific parts. Labor resisted this effort because it deskilled workers and led to the speedup of production lines. Taylor’s ideas were most popular at the height of the Progressive Era.
   
   
10. Separate Spheres: A concept of gender relations that developing I the Jacksonian era (1830s) and continued well into the 20^th century. The concept holds that women’s proper place was in the private world of hearth and home (the private sphere) and men’s was in the public world of commerce and politics (the public sphere). The doctrine of separate spheres ended slowly over the 19^th and 20^th centuries as women became more and more involved in public activities.
    
    
11. Radicalism: An approach to reform that demands a revolutionary change in the basic institutions of politics, economics, and society.
    
    
12. Social Justice: Based on the assumption that in a democratic society the basic needs of food, shelter, jobs, and education should be available to all citizens. If these conditions are not met in a free market economy, then it is the responsibility of the political process (government) to make these needs accessible to citizens. Underlying this concept is a belief that the assumption that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. See Progressivism.
    
    
13. Social Darwinism: A social theory based on Charles Darwin’s’ theory of evolution that argues that all progress in human society comes as the result of competition and natural selection. Gilded Age (1880s – 1890s) proponents such as William Graham Sumner and Herbert Spencer claimed that reform was useless because the rich and poor were precisely where nature intend them to be and intervention would retard the progress of humanity.
    
    
14. Social gospel movement: A religious movement in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries founded on the idea that Christians have a responsibility to reform society as well as individuals. Social gospel adherents (advocates) encouraged people to put Christ’s teachings to work in their daily lives by actively promoting social justice.
    
    
15. Socialism: A government system in which the state owns and operates the largest and most important parts of the economy.
    
    
16. Suffrage: The right to vote. The term suffrage is most often associated with the efforts of American women to secure voting rights in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. These efforts met with success with the ratification of the 19^th amendment to the U. S. Constitution in 1920.