The “Third Great Awakening”

(1)  During the 1970s the American public was disillusioned with government, and as the activism of the 60s began to decline and fade away as a unified movement  Americans began to search for their own individual answers and prosperity.

(2) “Finding that larger society could not fulfill sometimes inflated expectations of happiness… many Americans experimented in seeking it on their own…” Freeman p.314

(3)   As the 70s progressed the nation faced a serious time of economic decline for its major cities as industrialization continued to migrate South and South West. Cities in the Northeast were rapidly declining into wastelands as less revenue flowed in from industry, becoming hollow shells of what they once were. Unlike in the sixties Americans were no longer rallying together to fight the injustices that still plagued the nation. In a sense there was for a long period of time that social stagnation pervaded the American public. The economic pressures most likely made some Americans more bitter at fighting for causes as a mass movement as situations improved for some and declined for others. I think that Freeman most likely included this “great awakening” of the “me” generation because it shows where American interests now lay post-Vietnam. There was no longer  a sense of working together to achieve a goal but one of survival and personal success. This wave would influence life for Americans across the nation.