Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present

The year 1968 proved to be a turning point in American politics, for the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy stirred outrage among those agitating for social change. The protests held outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago that year were witnessed by the entire world. Other protests sprang up throughout Europe and Asia for a variety of different reasons. Ultimately, “1968 prefigured the two great trends that would reorder Western politics—the rise of identity politics and the growing polarization that accompanied it” (236).

Prior to this point in time, revolutions were sparked for economic reasons, but the new wave was different, for in America, the two pivotal issues driving protests were racial and gender equality. During the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement emerged to challenge the status quo. The related protests had the unexpected effect of driving blue-collar voters away from the left-leaning Democratic party. Voters’ traditional support of labor unions had been based on economic considerations. By 1968, these same voters were more concerned about the loss of racial privilege. In other words, their identity as high-status members of society was being threatened.

If the 1960s foregrounded civil rights, the 1970s emphasized gender equality and gay rights.