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This shift was really about a turning in on the self, and reflected more the post-60s despair and disillusionment of the Boomers in the failure to create real c
by danjac 5y ago
This shift was really about a turning in on the self, and reflected more the post-60s despair and disillusionment of the Boomers in the failure to create real change in society. If anything it intensified in the 1980s, on the one hand with the "greed is good" attitude of the Yuppies, on the other with the explosion of the wellness industry that continues to this day. Probably the most egregious example was Jane Fonda, who went from the leftist guerilla manning an anti-aircraft gun in Hanoi to doing aerobics videos a decade later.
This reflected the new neoliberal consensus that there is no such thing as society and only individuals are responsible for their own well-being and prosperity.
- mwattsun 5y agoI don't know where you're from, but I'm from California where the 70's were an exciting time of personal exploration, not much of that East Coast despair (Gerald Ford to bankrupt New York City - "Drop Dead"). Then came the 80's which were a reaction to all the touchy feely stuff and the explosion of cocaine use, which translated into "Greed is Good" and making money. It turned out computers were a great way to make money in Silicon Valley and that continues to this day.
- danjac 5y agoTom Wolfe among others pointed this out at the time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation And Reagan, after all, came from California...