Progress vs. Growth: Moving Beyond the Surface
by Patrice Jones and Rachel Ryan, Enlight Media
Throughout history, societies have moved in cycles. Periods of progress have been followed by moments of resistance. Steps forward shadowed by steps back. We often celebrate progress as a marker of change, but history reminds us that progress alone is rarely enough.
Progress can be undone. Growth endures.
Across centuries, the difference between fleeting progress and lasting growth has defined whether movements for justice, equality, and opportunity take root or fade when circumstances shift. In this piece, we’ll explore what separates the two and why understanding that distinction is key to building cultures that can truly evolve.
The Nature of Progress
Progress is visible. It’s the legislation passed, the milestone reached, the public statement made. In any era, progress captures attention because it’s tangible; it can be measured, announced, and celebrated.
But progress is also vulnerable. It can be reversed by changing priorities, waning momentum, or the comfort of believing that “enough” has been done. History shows us this pattern clearly: after every major leap toward justice, there has been a concerted effort to slow or reverse it:
Following the end of Slavery and the Reconstruction era, the Jim Crow era emerged across the American South, enforcing racial segregation and systematically restricting the rights of Black Americans.
During World War II, American women stepped into factories, offices, and shipyards to keep the nation running while men fought overseas. But when the war ended, they were expected to give up those jobs and return to life at home.
Progress, by nature, lives on the surface. When the surface shifts, it can disappear.
The Power of Growth
Growth, on the other hand, runs deeper. It happens quietly, within culture; in what a community or organization values, protects, and reinforces over time. Growth transforms principles into practice. It’s the difference between performative change and lived change.
True growth takes root when people understand the systems and stories that have shaped where we are today. When we study how inequities were built, we begin to see how they can be dismantled and how to prevent them from being rebuilt in new forms. Growth depends on context. It asks us not only to acknowledge history, but to learn from it.
How In Context Supports Growth
In Context helps organizations and learners move beyond symbolic progress by grounding their understanding of today’s inequities in historical truth. Our video-based modules explore how systemic patterns were established and how they’ve evolved across generations, influencing modern workplaces, institutions, and opportunities.
Our debut collection, Patterns in American Racism, examines how anti-Black racism in the United States has been structured, sustained, and adapted over time. It traces the roots of today’s disparities to policies, practices, and beliefs that have shaped American life for centuries, providing the clarity needed to spark informed action.
Our second collection, Women Rising, extends this work by uncovering the long history of gender-based inequality in America. It reveals how every era of progress has faced resistance, and how understanding those cycles can help build cultures that protect growth even when the spotlight fades.
Together, these collections equip purpose-driven organizations with the insight to make change that last, not through momentary progress, but through growth grounded in truth.
Moving from Progress to Growth
Progress begins the journey. Growth sustains it.
By studying history not as a sequence of isolated events, but as a living pattern, we gain the wisdom to avoid repeating it, and the courage to build something better.
Partner with In Context to turn progress into growth, and growth into lasting change.