The Progress Trap: The Modern Left and the False Authority of History Hardcover

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.

Exploring the Progressive Mindset

In The Progress Trap, Ben Cobley examines this progressive mindset as a form of power, conferring a right to act and control others. Key ideas explored include:

• ‘Change’, ‘transformation’ and the ‘new’ as superior values
• The inevitable destruction of the old: people, cultures, and nature

This mindset is described as a trap into which nearly all of us fall at times, so attractive are its stories and familiar its techniques.

A Thoughtful Critique of Progress

Hard-hitting but thoughtful, the book offers a meditation on the sinister consequences of the progressive way of being. These consequences are far-reaching and touch on:

• Ourselves
• Our democracy
• Our art
• The pursuit of real knowledge

This is a compelling exploration for anyone seeking to understand the deeper implications of progress in our modern world.