Me Decade Tom Wolfe Analysis

The focus of an individual on personal improvement was an idea that came to life in the mid 1970s. The exhaustion of alliance, whether with political parties, labor groups, or social classes, was leading people to turn inward for improvement. With this self-exploration came a sense of selfishness and people began to focus on their needs and interests instead of a larger group. This obsession with the self and the effects of an entire generation caring about themselves are explored in Tom Wolfe’s 1976 article in New York Magazine. In this article Wolfe shows the pervasiveness of this “Me Decade” through various lenses. From a labor perspective, Wolfe examines the vanishing of a collective working class and the creating of a more tiered system. From an economic perspective, any prosperity allowed people to turn inward instead of spending time on collective gain. Finally, from a social perspective, the counterculture approach to self realization also added to the “Me

Cowie sees Wolfe’s argument as a solid but incomplete one. He wants to use Wolfe’s ideas and expand them from the every day person to the worker and explore any changes through policy and