Progressivism

Progressivism is a political philosophy that holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political reform or through government mandates. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, technology, and social organization. Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human societies everywhere. Progressivism arose during the Age of Enlightenment out of the belief that civility in Europe was improving due to the application of new empirical knowledge to the governance of society.

In modern political discourse, progressivism gets often associated with social liberalism, a left-leaning type of liberalism.