The evolution of professional assoc

The evolution of professional associations in the latter half of the nineteenth century, as
well as during and just after the Progressive Era, reveals much about the current state of
professional ethics, in public administration as well as other fields and disciplines. Put
simply, science—the scientific-analytical mindset—won out over reform and advocacy
(Furner, 1975). Advocacy and reform, although in differing versions, were an integral
part of the ethos of most professions until the turn of the century, and can be traced back
to the prominence of moral philosophy in college curricula in ante-bellum America (Bryson,
1932).