Popular Culture of the 1980s in the USA. The Reagan Administration and the Use of Nostalgia

Book excerpt: Essay from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, Dresden Technical University (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: The USA: 1980-Today, language: English, abstract: This essay focuses on the early years of Ronald Reagan's presidential era and addresses the following questions in particular: Which were the main components of the attacks on the Sixties and how were the Fifties revalidated within these attacks? How did the Reagan administration put nostalgia in action? How strong of an influence did the New Right/New Right social issues, according to Marcus, have on the administration’s policies? How did President Reagan himself establish a relation to the past? Which past was rejected? Which past was embraced? Which impression of the 1980s did you get from reading Marcus’ argument?