I wasn't of investing age during the 80s or 90s but from what I can see it seems to have been a time of massive investment in single stock or what are today cal

I wasn't of investing age during the 80s or 90s but from what I can see it seems to have been a time of massive investment in single stock or what are today called "actively managed funds." Here in 2014 my feeling is that the average investor is much more savvy, with the majority of their holdings in diversified, low MER, index tracking ETFs. So the question is, are these ETFs simply the rich's way of duping the masses this time around? Or has competition and the Internet helped lift the fog, disseminate information and arm the average investor so that he won't succumb to the tricks of Moore's evil faceless rich?