The United States had been constantly growing before the Progressive Era due to the industrialization and constant immigration, which eventually lead to the widespread of urbanization and industrial monopolies. The impact of the government in the country´s growth was clearly focused to stop the unplanned urbanization that was affecting all major cities, and the notorious corruption that had emerged from representatives in office.
This era saw the prohibition of alcoholic beverages and the uprising of the women´s right to vote. Both causes were the result of an intended reform in the political life of the time. The prohibition of alcohol was to demolish the increasing power of local gangsters that were functioning as a monopoly. And the women´s suffrage was the result of an eager desire of the women to come into the political arena. All of this was propelled by the Efficiency Movement that was in charge of modernizing old ways using scientific management; movement that became known as “Taylorism”, in name of <em>Frederick Winslow Taylor</em> (1856-1915), an American mechanical engineer whose ideas were influential in paving the way for the Progressive Era (1890-1920).
Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist and used to write about controversial subjects such as attitudes towards sex. In 1935 she wrote a book called<em> Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies</em> that later became a classic study of cultural variation.
