Progressivism Progressivism was a political response to industrialization and its social by-products: immigration, urban growth, the concentration of corporate power, and widening of class divisions. It was in most cases distinct from populism, the reform movement that preceded it. Whereas populism attracted aggrieved farmers, progressivism’s strength lay in the cities. Progressivism enlisted far more journalists, academics, and social theorists than did populism. The progressives were reformers, not radicals or revolutionaries. They wanted to remedy the social evils spawned by capitalism, not destroy the system itself. Progressivism never constituted a cohesive moveme