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I wish someone would try to answer my above post
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OK, try this on...
I don't believe "people" are any different now than they were 50, 100, 150 years ago.
They want a living, a family, reasonable health, etc.
I suspect the person's POV depends on when they became an adult,
and started seeing their world from an adult perspective,
and started comparing that world with the smaller "family" world they came from.
Of course, moving from agricultural to industrial changed
how they lived.
My adult world came into view with the Korean War. My family was among the millions
who moved off the farm and into Michigan to work in the automotive industry.
That was a good move for them.
Good pay, good working hours, creating a product they were proud of,
medicine was improving health, infectious diseases were decreasing,
... the outlook was good and people were optimistic and "happier"
To point to a single event that changed all that is either extremely difficult or to the point of being trivial.
For example, I could point to Ronald Reagan (who everyone worships now as a great President),
as the
beginning of the down-turn in all that happiness and optimism.
His attitude towards welfare (welfare queens driving pink Cadillacs) made people dislike and distrust the poor;
whereas before just being poor was not a bad thing.
It was just something to prod people to want to work hard to change.
His attitude towards unions made people hate the union movement.
Communism was the epithet that "socialism" is used by politicians today.
But the 8-hour work-day, a safe work place, a good wage, medical benefits,
and sick time off work without being fired, vacation time with family,
retirement pensions, a minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, child labor laws...
all of these came from the union movement.
But look at people's attitude towards the unions now...
Right to Work states, politicians demonizing the workers,
telling people they are lucky to have a job, fighting cost of living increases,
stagnant minimum wage, or working for $1/hr + tips.
What sort of attitude would you expect from a nation of people who
are in a menial service jobs, for minimum wage, being told when they must work
and with no recourse to disagree with their employee except to quit.
If you are having to work "7pm to 7am two days in a row, one off and then one on again",
then I would point you back to Ronald Reagan and his attitude towards unions,
and his first killing of a union, the Air Traffic Controllers.
And Reagan he did it with a smile and movie star personality,
and a "There you go again"
But for me, Reagan was one major pivot point that was not for the better.