The evolution of human thought over time is viewed as fueling overall improvements of the human condition. For example, the development and proliferation of the idea of universal human rights over past few centuries can be described as contributing to the overall advancement of humanity. Similarly, the development of free market and democratic principles can be viewed as leading to the widespread political and economic empowerment of the masses.
Improvements in technology over time can also be viewed as contributing to the advancement of humankind throughout history. For instance, early innovations in agriculture are described as leading to the end of hunting and gathering and the development of fixed communities. Agriculture provided populations with ample food and more free time for developing new trades and ways of life. More recently, rapid advancements in technology since the start of the Industrial Revolution are widely understood to have led to marked improvements in average income, education, health and life expectancy, particularly in the developed world. Similarly, the development of new computer technologies has been described as sparking a new information age.
Many measurements of progress focus on specific problems. For instance, it is possible to measure progress in the fight against poverty by measuring changes in income over time. Similarly, it is possible to measure progress in the effort to combat AIDs by taking note of advances in the medical field. Other approaches take a broader view to defining progress, focusing on the advancement of humankind over all of history, specific time periods, or within certain societies. For example, the empowerment of women and minority groups, particularly African Americans, is often pointed to as signs of progress in American society.
The idea of progress has had and continues to have a major impact on humankind. We can see it at work today in international initiatives such as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which aims to achieve such ambitious goals as cutting in half the proportion of people living in hunger worldwide by 2015. The election of Barack Obama is often described as a culmination of the progress achieved by African Americans within the United States. Similarly, the progressive movement is defined by a belief that vast improvements can be made in a number of areas of American society, including the economy, energy, the environment, healthcare and foreign policy. Its rhetoric often highlights to the America's history of economic, political and technological achievements as evidence that future progress is possible.
Views about progress vary markedly among groups with different beliefs. For instance, communist thought defined progress as the inevitable shifting of power over society from a small group of elites to the working class. Many communist thinkers believed progress could only be achieved through violent revolution. On the other hand, capitalist thought would define progress as the establishment of a mutually beneficial relationship between workers and entrepreneurs, with each receiving just compensation for contributing their time and labor. Muslim extremists strongly disagree with those who see economic globalization as contributing to progress by proliferating the economic models and culture of Western world.