The Progress Trap

The idea of progress, one of the animating ideas of Western civilization, has now gone global. From Marxism and neoliberalism to today’s mutant identity politics, it offers a framework of knowledge and confidence: an assurance that things will get better and that history is on our side. However, in doing this it creates a form of authority that is simultaneously imaginary and dishonest, resting on confidence in a future that is really contingent and unknowable. In The Progress Trap, Ben Cobley looks at this progressive mindset as a form of power, conferring a right to act and control others. ‘Change’, ‘transformation’ and the ‘new’ are the superior values, meaning destruction of the old: people, cultures and nature. It is a trap into which nearly all of us fall at times, so attractive are its stories and familiar its techniques. Hard-hitting but thoughtful, the book is a meditation on the sinister consequences of the progressive way of being: for ourselves, for our democracy, for our art and for the pursuit of real knowledge.

Preface Chapter 1, Introduction: From colonialism to decolonisation Part One: How progressives win Chapter 2: Taking the place of God Chapter 3: The uses of social science Chapter 4: Progressivism as promotion Chapter 5: Eliminating opponents Chapter 6: The politics of expertise Part Two: The progressive society Chapter 7: From art to activism Chapter 8: Progressive capitalism Chapter 9: The technocratic state Chapter 10: Nationalisms: good and bad Chapter 11: Playing Jesus: the activist as narcissist Chapter 12, Conclusions: How should we respond?