1970s: Finding new directions

Because public attention swung from the shared causes of the 1960s toward personal fulfillment and self-improvement, writer Tom Wolfe coined the label to capture how many people traded street activism for an inward focus on their own well-being and private growth.

Loose monetary policy collided with sharp oil-price shocks, pushing prices up while growth stalled. Once people expected prices to keep climbing, they built that into wages and spending, which fed more inflation even as unemployment stayed high, giving the decade its unusual, painful squeeze.

An OPEC oil embargo choked off supply, so stations ran dry, and drivers sat in long queues for fuel. Middle East politics pushed producers to cut exports, prices jumped, and rationing followed, exposing how dependent daily life had become on cheap, steady imported oil.