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For many Americans, the 1970s evoke idiosyncratic fads—disco music, bell-bottoms, Pet Rocks, lava lamps, and mood rings. Yet underneath the polyester, the decade also produced many of the political and economic transformations that continue to shape American life today. Then, as now, inflation squeezed household budgets and dominated the news cycle. Conflict in the Middle East and resulting fuel shortages exposed the environmental limits of economic growth. Unions declined, and jobs were mechanized, computerized, and shipped overseas—initiating a permanent shift from a trade surplus to a deficit. Establishment political parties struggled to respond to these conditions, opening space for populist challenges to the status quo. And at the same time, the unprecedented entry of women into paid work and a post-60s civil-rights ethos sparked debates over inequality, fairness, and economic justice. In this course, students will examine a range of primary and secondary sources to better understand the decade that many consider the origin of our time. Because this is a research lab, students will also pursue research projects of their own design; and course assignments will provide support, scaffolding, and deadlines for independent research. This course satisfies the "research lab" requirement for Moral and Political Economy majors.