The Transformation of the Idea of Progress

Since the 17th century, the belief in “progress” had been the underlying ideology of Western Civilization. By the 1960s and 1970s, however, this belief in progress had been eroded, as American society witnessed unanticipated consequences of scientific and technological advances, such as environmental degradation, increasingly destructive tools of warfare, and the unequal distribution of material wealth. In 1979, the Academy convened a group of business people, public officials, and scholars from the physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities to discuss changing expectations for the future of society and culture.

Resulting Publication

• Progress and its Discontents, Gabriel A. Almond, Marvin Chodorow and Roy Harvey Pearce. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1982. (out of print)