Ch 29 One-Pager
The Search for Order in an Era of Limits, 1973-1980
“Alongside cultural dislocation and political alienation, the country confronted a series of distressing economic setbacks in the 1970s and early 1980s.” Pg. 919
For much of the 1970s, Americans struggled with economic problems, including inflation, energy shortages, income stagnation, and deindustrialization. These challenges highlighted the limits of postwar prosperity and forced Americans to consider lowering their economic expectations. In the midst of this gloomy economic climate, they also sought political and cultural resolutions to upheavals of the 1960s. A movement for environmental protection, widely supported, led to new laws and an awareness of nature’s limits. Meanwhile, the battle for civil rights entered a second stage, expanding to encompass women’s rights and gay rights, the rights of alleged prisoners and criminals, and, in the realm of racial injustice, focusing on the problem of producing concrete results rather than legislation. Many liberals cheered these developments, but another effect was to strengthen a new, more conservative social mood that began to challenge liberal values in politics and society more generally.
For much of the 1970s, Americans struggled with economic problems, including inflation, energy shortages, income stagnation, and deindustrialization. These challenges highlighted the limits of postwar prosperity and forced Americans to consider lowering their economic expectations. In the midst of this gloomy economic climate, they also sought political and cultural resolutions to upheavals of the 1960s. A movement for environmental protection, widely supported, led to new laws and an awareness of nature’s limits. Meanwhile, the battle for civil rights entered a second stage, expanding to encompass women’s rights and gay rights, the rights of alleged prisoners and criminals, and, in the realm of racial injustice, focusing on the problem of producing concrete results
“Alongside cultural dislocation and political alienation, the country confronted a series of distressing economic setbacks in the 1970s and early 1980s.” Pg. 919
For much of the 1970s, Americans struggled with economic problems, including inflation, energy shortages, income stagnation, and deindustrialization. These challenges highlighted the limits of postwar prosperity and forced Americans to consider lowering their economic expectations. In the midst of this gloomy economic climate, they also sought political and cultural resolutions to upheavals of the 1960s. A movement for environmental protection, widely supported, led to new laws and an awareness of nature’s limits. Meanwhile, the battle for civil rights entered a second stage, expanding to encompass women’s rights and gay rights, the rights of alleged prisoners and criminals, and, in the realm of racial injustice, focusing on the problem of producing concrete results rather than legislation. Many liberals cheered these developments, but another effect was to strengthen a new, more conservative social mood that began to challenge liberal values in politics and society more generally.
For much of the 1970s, Americans struggled with economic problems, including inflation, energy shortages, income stagnation, and deindustrialization. These challenges highlighted the limits of postwar prosperity and forced Americans to consider lowering their economic expectations. In the midst of this gloomy economic climate, they also sought political and cultural resolutions to upheavals of the 1960s. A movement for environmental protection, widely supported, led to new laws and an awareness of nature’s limits. Meanwhile, the battle for civil rights entered a second stage, expanding to encompass women’s rights and gay rights, the rights of alleged prisoners and criminals, and, in the realm of racial injustice, focusing on the problem of producing concrete results