The 1970s : a new global history from civil rights to economic inequality
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The 1970s : a new global history from civil rights to economic inequality
（America in the world）
Princeton University Press, c2012
- : hard
- Other Title
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Nineteen seventies
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Note
Includes bibliographical references
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
"The 1970s" looks at an iconic decade when the cultural left and economic right came to the fore in American society and the world at large. While many have seen the 1970s as simply a period of failures epitomized by Watergate, inflation, the oil crisis, global unrest, and disillusionment with military efforts in Vietnam, Thomas Borstelmann creates a new framework for understanding the period and its legacy. He demonstrates how the 1970s increased social inclusiveness and, at the same time, encouraged commitments to the free market and wariness of government. As a result, American culture and much of the rest of the world became more - and less - equal. Borstelmann explores how the 1970s forged the contours of contemporary America. Military, political, and economic crises undercut citizens' confidence in government. Free market enthusiasm led to lower taxes, a volunteer army, individual 401(k) retirement plans, free agency in sports, deregulated airlines, and expansions in gambling and pornography. At the same time, the movement for civil rights grew, promoting changes for women, gays, immigrants, and the disabled. And developments were not limited to the United States.
Many countries gave up colonial and racial hierarchies to develop a new formal commitment to human rights, while economic deregulation spread to other parts of the world, from Chile and the United Kingdom to China. Placing a tempestuous political culture within a global perspective, "The 1970s" shows that the decade wrought irrevocable transformations upon American society and the broader world that continue to resonate today.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix Preface and Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Crosscurrents of Crisis in 1970s America 19 Trouble Abroad 22 Corruption at Home 36 Conservatism and the Distrust of Government 45 Economic Insecurity 53 Turning Inward 63 Chapter 2: The Rising Tide of Equality and Democratic Reform 73 Women in the Public Sphere 76 Women in the Private Sphere 88 The Many Frontiers of Equality 96 Political Reform 108 Resistance 114 Chapter 3: The Spread of Market Values 122 A Sea Change of Principles 126 The Economy Goes South 133 Globalization's Gathering Speed 137 From Citizenship to Deregulation 144 Market Solutions for Every Problem 153 A Freer Market, A Coarser Culture 162 Chapter 4: The Retreat of Empires and the Global Advance of the Market 175 The Emergence of Human Rights 179 European Empires and Southern Africa 186 The Soviet Empire 193 The American Empire 201 The Israeli Exception 208 The Retreat of the State 214 China and the Hollowing Out of Socialism 220 Chapter 5: Resistance to the New Hyper-Individualism 227 The Environmentalist Challenge 231 Religious Resurgence at Home 247 Religious Resurgence in Israel 258 Religious Resurgence in the Muslim World 263 Jimmy Carter as a Man of His Times 270 Chapter 6: More and Less Equal since the 1970s 279 Evidence to the Contrary 280 Inclusiveness Ascending 287 Markets Persisting 295 Unrestrained Consumption 299 Inequality Rising 306 Conclusion 312 Notes 319 Index 371
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