The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (220 page)
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Authors: Iain McLean
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pro-choice
An ideological position which defends a woman's right to have an abortion on the grounds of her inviolable autonomy over matters concerning her own body. In the United States, where the issue has become most politicized, the landmark
Roe v. Wade
decision of the Supreme Court in 1973 grounded a woman's right to have an abortion in an inferred constitutional ‘right to privacy’. See
also pro-life
.
SW
Roe v. Wade
decision of the Supreme Court in 1973 grounded a woman's right to have an abortion in an inferred constitutional ‘right to privacy’. See
also pro-life
.
SW
progressive movement
An amorphous, cross-party tendency towards economic and political reform prevalent in the United States at the beginning of this century.
In that era Democrats, Republicans, and non-partisans alike became alarmed by developments in American life that had been underway for some time. They viewed with concern the rise of trusts—monopolies in commerce and industry—and the parallel emergence of party bosses and political machines. Such concentrations of economic and political power, so it was argued, not only led to exploitation and corruption, but also ran counter to the values of equality, individualism, and democracy upon which the country had been founded. Progressivism and its forerunner
populism
were responses to these concerns. Progressivism, while it drew strength from Populist agrarian protest, had its roots in the cities among the urban middle class, mainly of white Anglo-Saxon, Protestant origin.
All progressives were much exercised by the stranglehold on the American economy that the trusts were believed to have gained. However, they disagreed over solutions to the problem. Some such as Woodrow Wilson favoured restoring competition by enforcing and adding to legislation such as the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 which made structures ‘in restraint of trade’ illegal. Theodore Roosevelt, by contrast, saw trusts as inevitable, but wanted to bring them under the control of regulatory commissions.
There was greater agreement among progressives on political reform. They saw a need to purify politics by destroying the odious bosses and their
machines
, and returning government to where it properly belonged, in the hands of the people. Progressives accordingly became enthusiasts for various devices of direct democracy such as the presidential primary, the direct primary, the
initiative
, and the
referendum
, as well as the recall of public officials.
It is difficult to place progressives on a conventional left-right spectrum. Whilst they were committed to reform they were also, in a sense, deeply conservative. They harked back to an alleged golden age in American history—one of small farms, small towns, and small business where there was opportunity for all and where self-government was a reality. Although they sought to ameliorate some of the adverse consequences of capitalism, progressives were far from being anticapitalist. They objected to trusts not out of any objection to capitalism itself, but because those organizations restricted or eliminated opportunities for small entrepreneurs and thereby curtailed equality of opportunity and individualism. Progressives also looked askance at organized labour and abhorred the collectivism associated with socialism even though the reform aspirations of trade unionists and socialists provided some common ground with progressives.
DM
In that era Democrats, Republicans, and non-partisans alike became alarmed by developments in American life that had been underway for some time. They viewed with concern the rise of trusts—monopolies in commerce and industry—and the parallel emergence of party bosses and political machines. Such concentrations of economic and political power, so it was argued, not only led to exploitation and corruption, but also ran counter to the values of equality, individualism, and democracy upon which the country had been founded. Progressivism and its forerunner
populism
were responses to these concerns. Progressivism, while it drew strength from Populist agrarian protest, had its roots in the cities among the urban middle class, mainly of white Anglo-Saxon, Protestant origin.
All progressives were much exercised by the stranglehold on the American economy that the trusts were believed to have gained. However, they disagreed over solutions to the problem. Some such as Woodrow Wilson favoured restoring competition by enforcing and adding to legislation such as the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 which made structures ‘in restraint of trade’ illegal. Theodore Roosevelt, by contrast, saw trusts as inevitable, but wanted to bring them under the control of regulatory commissions.
There was greater agreement among progressives on political reform. They saw a need to purify politics by destroying the odious bosses and their
machines
, and returning government to where it properly belonged, in the hands of the people. Progressives accordingly became enthusiasts for various devices of direct democracy such as the presidential primary, the direct primary, the
initiative
, and the
referendum
, as well as the recall of public officials.
It is difficult to place progressives on a conventional left-right spectrum. Whilst they were committed to reform they were also, in a sense, deeply conservative. They harked back to an alleged golden age in American history—one of small farms, small towns, and small business where there was opportunity for all and where self-government was a reality. Although they sought to ameliorate some of the adverse consequences of capitalism, progressives were far from being anticapitalist. They objected to trusts not out of any objection to capitalism itself, but because those organizations restricted or eliminated opportunities for small entrepreneurs and thereby curtailed equality of opportunity and individualism. Progressives also looked askance at organized labour and abhorred the collectivism associated with socialism even though the reform aspirations of trade unionists and socialists provided some common ground with progressives.
DM
progressive taxation
Income tax system which levies a proportionately higher tax rate on those with higher incomes.
proletariat
A class of wage earner in a capitalist society whose only possession of significant materal value is its labour power. Whatever its classical and medieval usages, where the term often applied to those required to give service,
Marx
,
Engels
, and the Marxists have thus effectively captured the word. For them, the proletariat was that class which lived solely by its labour power, a class which could not live as the bourgeoisie could by profit from capital, or by ownership of the means of production, a class which had been totally dispossessed during the course of the industrial revolution. While it is now very common to find working class as a synonym for proletariat, it is well worth noting that Engels in the
Principles of Communism
(1847) maintained that while there had always been a working class, just as there had always been poor people, there was a proletariat only in the nineteenth century.
JH
Marx
,
Engels
, and the Marxists have thus effectively captured the word. For them, the proletariat was that class which lived solely by its labour power, a class which could not live as the bourgeoisie could by profit from capital, or by ownership of the means of production, a class which had been totally dispossessed during the course of the industrial revolution. While it is now very common to find working class as a synonym for proletariat, it is well worth noting that Engels in the
Principles of Communism
(1847) maintained that while there had always been a working class, just as there had always been poor people, there was a proletariat only in the nineteenth century.
JH
pro-life
An ideological position which opposes abortion on the grounds of the inviolable rights of the foetus as a moral subject. These rights are seen as ‘trumping’ all countervailing considerations claimed by pro-choicers, though there are some differences of opinion on appropriate action in ‘tough cases’ (e.g. where the mother's life is threatened by continuation of the pregnancy).
SW
SW
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