As the 1970s progressed, the economic liberalism of Milton Friedman and his colleagues in the Chicago School moved closer to overcoming the Keynesian orthodoxy. Many notable figures in the left’s mainstream political parties were happy to see the back of what they had come to believe was an economic model that created coddling dependencies and curtailed the dynamism and creativity of the entrepreneurial class. And as neoliberalism rose to the heights of government and transformed itself into a new economic and political orthodoxy, the dominant cultural wing of the left continued its flight into abstraction.

Intellectual life took what became known as its ‘cultural turn’. All eyes seemed to turn to the cultural field. The intellectual frameworks of the past were believed to be unsuited for a world that seemed to be becoming ever more complex and changeable. The foundations of Western thought appeared to be rooted in assumptions that no longer reflected the lives of a population that had freed itself from the myths that weighted so heavily upon the lives of their parents and grandparents. Older generations, it was claimed, had led rather predictable, static lives, but the same would not be true for those growing up in the neoliberal era. The lives of the young would be creative, unpredictable and hypermobile. The young were more likely to switch nations, social classes, political allegiances, homes, identities, jobs, and so on. They had also freed themselves from the collective identities of the past. They would be autonomous individuals rather than members of sprawling social groups.

The intimacies of personal life were also changing. Romantic relationships had become brittle and were increasingly liable to break apart under the slightest strain. Friendships would also be constantly appraised for their utility, and enduring personal connections would be a much less significant feature of the lives of young people. Perhaps more important was the supposed shift in ethics. The young would appraise their own lives and judge the lives of others differently. They would be more calculative and ends-driven than their parents and grandparents.