Scenes like this one, at an Amoco station in 1973, were common throughout the Western world. Also common were long lines to receive rationed petrol products.

The Gay Pride Flag, symbol of the Gay Rights Movement, was first flown in 1978 in San Francisco. This is the current version, flying over the Castro in June 2005

Voyager spacecraft and space explorations

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1970s

The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. more...

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In the Western world, the focus shifted from the social activism of the sixties to social activities simply for one's own pleasure, save for environmentalism, which continued in a very visible way. The seventies were characterized by the writer Tom Wolfe as the "Me Decade."

The perception of the established institutions of nuclear family, religion and trust in one's government continued to lose ground during this time. Major developments of the sexual revolution included the awareness of the impact of contraceptive pills on social-interactional relationships, and an increase in divorce rates, single parent households, and pre-marital sex. By the end of the decade the feminist movement had helped improve women's working conditions. The Gay Rights movement gained prominence and the hippie culture, which started in the 1960s, peaked and carried on through the end of the decade. The United States' withdrawal from Vietnam and the resignation of Richard Nixon help lead to a vague sense of malaise.

While the United States experienced recession, the economy of Japan rose. The economies of many third world countries continued to make steady progress in the early 1970s through the green revolution. They might have thrived and become stable in the way that Europe recovered after the war through the Marshall Plan; however, the economic growth was slowed by the oil crisis.

Worldwide trends in the Seventies

The ethos of the 1970s emerged from a transition of the global social structure. It reflected the transition from the decline of colonial imperialism since the end of World War II to globalization and the rise of a new middle class in the developing world.

Globally, the 1970s had several features that were similar and definitive across economic levels and regions. These aspects and essence that make up global essence of the 1970s are the defining points of the 1970s: the Bretton Woods system and its subsequent failure, the impact of the contraceptive pill on social-interactional dynamics, and the oil shock of 1973.

The developing nations experienced economic growth that came in the wake of political independence. However, several African economies declined and political states became dictatorial regimes. Many Middle Eastern democracies crumbled into chaotic regimes with pseudo democratic governments.

The 1970s ethos in much of the developing world was characterized by:

the constant need to redefine social norms to newer socioeconomic systems,; the sheer pace at which they need to adapt to new social influences along with the need to integrate it to their native cultural context, and; the constant aspiration for a more egalitarian society in cultures that were long colonised and have an even longer history of hierarchical social structure.;