For some Americans, the 1960s and 1970s had been a troubling time that undermined their confidence in fellow citizens and in government. So in the 1980s, a new conservatism arose in social, economic, and political life, which can be identified through the policies of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
The decade is often remembered for its materialism and consumerism and it also saw the rise of the "yuppie," an explosion of blockbuster movies and the emergence of cable networks like CNN and MTV, which introduced the music video and launched the careers of many iconic artists.
However, there were great challenges, too. The AIDS crisis would go on to kill more than 700,000 people in the United States alone.
The 1980s, especially in New York but also in cities all over the world from Cologne to Tokyo, was a period of media excess and frenzied stock market speculation, typified by aggressive large-scale paintings that sold for lots of money.
(But in 1991, the art market crashed, closing galleries right and left. Prices fell by more than 50% for many contemporary artists, and average art prices didn't recover to their pre-crash height until 2003.)
The 1990s are often remembered as a decade of relative peace and prosperity. The Soviet Union fell, ending the decades-long Cold War, and the rise of the internet brought a radical new era of communication, business, and entertainment.
However, many forget, that the decade was not without violence and tragedy, including the Bosnian genocide, the Rodney King beating, and subsequent L.A. Riots, and the bombing of the World Trade Center. The Columbine High School shooting marked a solemn chapter in gun violence, and the devastatingly deadly Oklahoma City bombing by a domestic terrorist followed lethal standoffs between federal agents and armed civilians at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas.
While conjuring fond fuzzy feelings from our past makes us feel good, there's a lot more going on.
"Consuming nostalgic media of all types gives us a way of thinking about who we are, and helps us make sense of our purpose in life," said Krystine Batcho, a psychology professor at LeMoyne College and longtime nostalgia researcher.
"Familiar media from our past brings us emotional comfort, but it also meets a cognitive need: it encourages the belief that things will get better because they’ve been good before," Batcho added.
Nostalgia is also one way we cope with things like social isolation, disconnectedness, and loneliness. This may sound counterintuitive since it typically involves private reflection on our personal history, but nostalgic memories remind us of our relationships with other people.
Batcho believes nostalgic recollections can encourage us to seek out social and emotional support because they frequently feature important people from our past.
Much of nostalgia makes us recall periods from our childhood. Batcho said a big reason for this is that during that period, we were loved simply for who we were.
Maybe that's why online communities such as '80s & 90s Kids Everywhere!' are so popular. Who doesn't like to remember when everything was so simple and seemed fine?
