Posted July 1, 2009 - 10:15am by Matt Itelson
If the 1980s were the decade of big hair and the 1990s were grunge, how will society define the first 10 years of the new millennium? A July 1 story in the Contra Costa Times explores this burning question, featuring commentary from Associate Professor Melissa Camacho.
“We’re still trying to figure out what the heck this decade was about,” Melissa Camacho says, in the article, written by Tony Hicks. “There’s no one thing that really defines this decade, except Sept. 11 and violence. It really lacks the lightheartedness. This decade was supposed to be the technological decade, but instead it was about war and a bad economy. The iPhone was great, but people can’t afford it. Basically I call it the decade of contradictions.”
Later in the article, Camacho offers two potential names for this decade. “If I had to pick one thing to identify pop culture in this decade, it’s the social networking platform,” she says. “We’re starting to see a re-connection of people, but on a different platform. It was in the second half that people started relaxing and getting into their social network. And there’s plenty of positives (moving forward). We have the first African-American president. People are realizing they need to pay attention to their government. There’s an environmental awareness that was never there. I’ve heard people call it the green decade.”
