WAS LIFE BETTER FIFTY YEARS AGO?

Nostalgic and thought provoking. The answer to the initial question would have to be, it depends. In some ways, for some people, things have gotten better. Though, the philosophical question is not so easy to answer. I like the way the pieces was laid out with links and clips.

A difficult question, my childhood memories are of very happy times, but, growing up in developing countries, I also remember children my age weaving carpets, open sewers and cholera epidemics. I do think that life in many developing countries has improved dramatically since the 1960s and 1970s.

I was born in 1979 so it is hard for me to comment the 1970s but overall, life before the global coronavirus manipulation was better in the West. Life in developing countries, this is another story.

Once again Duncan Shaw has given us some great food for thought with his latest stimulating column. If we are talking about the white middle and lower middle classes of Anglo-American societies, as Shaw seems to be, then I think the answer to the title’s question, “Was life better 50 years ago,” I think the answer is yes. Life has not improved economically for these people, and in many cases it has deteriorated. Particularly in the United States, their real wages and incomes have been no better than stagnant on average over this period, if not in outright decline. Most have lost all job and income security. Most have seen the demands on their time continue to rise and to experience increasing stress and anxiety. With each passing day, they most face more physical danger in public space. The neo-liberalism of Thatcher and Reagan which began at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s was applied first at home within the Anglo-American world and then abroad at the end of the Cold War, catalyzing globalization and international economic integration within a liberal international order. This had the effect of hollowing out the education, social and physical infrastructural investment and support sustaining the broad middle classes since the end of World War II, setting the stage for their growing impoverization and resentment, which was only reinforced by the job threatening blow of rising trade competition from poorer by rapidly emerging economies. And now they face potential oblivion over the coming decades as automatization, mechanization, artificial intelligence and other ‘gifts’ of the digital transformation eliminate most of the jobs they might possibly access.
However, if we are asking the question of others – like most of Asia, much of Africa or even, closer to home, Ireland or Spain – then the answer is likely to be very different. It might also be different if the question were posed to an African American member of the middle class or an Hispanic.
With respect to a possible deterioration of different genres of art, including popular art, over the last 50 years, I think the general idea is correct, but the explanation is very complex and requires more serious attention, research and analysis. Nevertheless, I do think that it could be maintained that technology, particularly when its rate of innovation and change is increasing rapid, essentially exercises an on balance net negative effect on current and future creative art. But that would be another debate, and a long and arduous one no doubt.

Wondering if life would be considered "objectively" better or "relatively" better, then or now, and for whom.

As those who have already commented, to analyse and answer this question fully you would have to carve up the world across a vast range of socio economic and global segments. But as far as middle class English children are concerned, I think we were better off with our Scalextric, Raleigh Choppers and pineapple chunks than today’s teenagers fretting about when their next iPhone upgrade is due and how many likes their last post received.
PS Why has the writer downgraded himself from the lofty heights of professor to doctor for this post?

Another thought-provoking piece by Duncan Shaw. We all remember our childhood years in the 60s and 70s as better times. Of course we do, as we lived free of the concerns and pressures that are inevitably part of adult life. I often wonder if my parents felt the same stresses I feel or if life for them really was easier back then. And for those of us who grew up in solid middle-class families in First World countries it would be easy to point to the stable employment, affordable housing costs and freedom from the threat of Isis as proof that life was better. However, if we really take an honest look at the life outside our bubble, we see that from 1960 until now, the percentage of the world population living in extreme poverty has dramatically decreased, the number of armed conflicts around the world is much lower than it was in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and minority groups finally enjoy the rights they were denied during our childhood years. By those very important measures, life is definitely better. And while the internet and technology in general may be allowing fake news and hate speech to spread unchecked, as well as ruining some of our human connections (please put down your phones and stop sending text messages and actually talk, in person, to your friends!) it has also made long-distance communication almost as good as a visit. The same communication technology allows for remote work, which has allowed many people freedom to explore other parts of their countries or even the world without giving up their jobs. These developments increase our happiness beyond measure, I am sure. So, to answer Duncan’s question, I honestly believe that while increasing wealth inequality and the growth of authoritarian regimes are darkening my usually optimistic view of life, the world in 2022 is actually better if we examine many quantifiable measures like poverty and conflict. That being said, NO TIME will ever equal the glorious years of the 60s and 70s in terms of music. Duncan named all of the reasons why.