Is progress necessarily benificial for society?

Yes, it is benificial for society. If the society does not improve, there will be no new technologies. There will not be any new discoveries and people will not have any new knowledge. There also will be no new medicines for people to take when they are sick when new viruses appear as they do not have the technology and knowledge about finding and discovering new viruses. Without improving, we might still be living in the past. People might still be travelling on land in rickshaws, people might still be travelling to another country in ships and people might still be living in huts, rearing chickens, pigs, ducks etc. Without improving, we might not even have schools for us to attend to. We might have riots and strikes occuring now and then.