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Reflection: A Short History Of Progress By Ronald Wright

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ENG 4A03 - Reflection on A Short History of Progress In Ronald Wright's book, "A Short History of Progress", he talks about many historical examples of "progress traps". He describes the term "progress trap" as an idea or technology that generates splendid results at first, but leads to a deadly, impossible end [1]. In other terms, a "progress trap" is a problem that inadvertently creates conditions that are worse than what existed prior to the innovation. In today's society, we place a significant amount of importance on maintaining a capitalistic economy. In other terms, our countries trade, industry and means of production are privately owned and operated for profit [2]. From our governments point of view, having and maintaining a capitalistic economy benefits economic growth and increases our standard of living. However, despite living in a system which enables us to be potentially successful, negative outcomes of the capitalistic system arise. Such negativities include consumerism, which is the consumption of goods and services in excess of one's basic needs, usually in greater and greater quantities [3]. Although consumerism is an issue in itself, a far greater underlying capitalistic ideology is planned obsolescence. The strategy …show more content…

The society we live in today does not have an infinite economy and infinite supply of resources. If producers continue to produce with the mindset of having their goods replaced by consumers, the ecological footprint left by these consumers will become greater and the environment will be impacted as an increasing amount of natural resources are being consumed. Moreover, because these products aren't naturally produced, the extraction and production of these consumer goods will add to the increasing levels of pollution in our environment. And lastly, these products being replaced will become waste, adding to our increasing amounts of landfills across the

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Byrn argument is based through the thought that in order to have a vision of progress one has to look back at past developments that have happened throughout the world so far and take a sense of why it has shaped the notion of progress in today’s world. In Edward W. Byrn’s article, “The Progress of Invention During the Past Fifty Years”, Byrn leans towards the example of the United States in which it has created a sense of progress through the notion of development. To be specific, Byrn states, “To him what a vista it must present; what a convergence of the perspective; for the past fifty years represents an epoch of invention and progress unique in this history of the world” (Byrn 1896). Byrn is explaining that during this time, man only looked upon the past as an example to progress mankind through many inventions.

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Very few books in the history of economic thought still render an accurate portrayal of society today. Written 115 years ago, Thorstein Veblen’s The Theory of the Social Class (1899) describes a materialistic society obsessed with reputation and social status, echoing a portrayal of the modern capitalistic consumer culture that defines us today. As Roger Mason (1998), professor of consumer theory states: “Consuming for status has, in fact, become a defining element of the new consumer societies” (p.vii). In his treatise, Veblen’s discusses such a society, in order to portray the ‘leisure class’, the 19th century society that characterized the upper class that formed as a consequence of the Second Industrial Revolution. Such a society uses the consumption of goods and leisure as means of climbing up the social ladder.

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