In some ways, the 1970s was a continuation of the 1960s: marginalized people continued their fight for equality, and many Americans joined the protest against the ongoing war in Vietnam.

However, the decade was at the same time a repudiation of the 1960s: there was a mobilization to defend political conservatism and traditional family roles, and the behavior of President Richard Nixon undermined many people's faith in the good intentions of the federal government.

By the end of the decade, these divisions and disappointments had set a tone for public life that many would argue still remains with us today.

Many Americans, particularly working class and middle class whites, responded to the turbulence of the late 1960s along with its urban riots and counterculture by embracing a new kind of conservative populism.

Sick and tired of what they interpreted as spoiled hippies and whining protestors, and an interfering government that, in their eyes, coddled poor people and black people at taxpayer expense, these individuals formed what political strategists called a "silent majority."

This silent majority swept President Richard Nixon into office in 1968, and almost immediately, Nixon began to dismantle the welfare state that had fostered such resentment.

He abolished as many parts of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty as he could, and made a show of his resistance to mandatory school desegregation plans such as busing.

However, some of Nixon’s domestic policies sound remarkably liberal even today.

For example, he proposed a Family Assistance Plan that would have guaranteed every American family an income of $1,600 a year (about $10,000 in today's money), and he urged Congress to pass a Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan that would have guaranteed affordable health care to all Americans.

In general, though, Nixon’s policies favored the interests of the middle class people who felt slighted by the Great Society of the 1960s.

As the 1970s carried on, some of these people helped shape a new political movement known as the 'New Right.'

This movement, rooted in the suburban Sun Belt, celebrated the free market and lamented the decline of "traditional" social values and roles, resisting what they saw as government meddling.

For instance, they fought against high taxes, environmental regulations, highway speed limits, national park policies in the West (the so-called “Sagebrush Rebellion”), and affirmative action and school desegregation plans. 

But during the 1970s, many Americans continued to fight for expanded social and political rights. In 1972, after years of feminist campaigns, Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution, which says: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

At first, it seemed that the Amendment would pass easily as 22 of the necessary 38 states ratified it right away. The remaining states seemed close behind, however, the ERA alarmed many conservative activists, who feared that it would undermine traditional gender roles. So these activists mobilized against the Amendment and managed to defeat it—in 1977, Indiana became the 35th–and last–state to ratify the ERA.

Such disappointments encouraged many activists to turn away from politics. They began to build feminist communities and organizations of their own: art galleries and bookstores, consciousness-raising groups, daycare and women’s health collectives (such as the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, which published “Our Bodies, Ourselves” in 1973), and abortion clinics.

Fashion in the 1970s was a reflection of social life, and focused heavily on individuality. In fact, it was so varied and experimental that Vogue famously proclaimed, "There are no rules in the fashion game now."

From flares and bell sleeves to shearling coats and miniskirts, the era gave birth to an eclectic style that also helped the rise of disco.