Rejecting the Center: Radical Grassroots Politics in the 1970s-Second-wave Feminism as a Case Study

Most general accounts of America in the 1970s view the decade as one of political apathy and narcissism. On the contrary, the 1970s saw Americans embrace a wide range of political causes. In the absence of strong national leadership, ordinary people engaged in politics at the grassroots level. An example of this vibrant political Culture was the rise of second-wave feminism, which saw millions of ordinary women mobilize around a host of issues including credit and wage equity, reproductive rights, egalitarian marriage, and educational funding.