If I understand you -- there may have been a point in the early seventies that was a zenith, when a rising large generation in the wealthier parts of the world was feeling sure it had flung the old order arse over tit and joined forces with a workers' movement that was far from past its sell-by date.

Too cool, too easy, too short-lived.

A good friend in those days never stopped telling me that the backlash was going to be terrible.