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Key points
- Nostalgia is a symptom of the grieving process.
- Creativity stimulated by nostalgia can help resolve the issues that caused it.
- Modern psychologists say that nostalgia is good because it helps people improve their mood and increases social connectedness.
Growing up in the 1970s, there was a massive collective outpouring of nostalgia for the 1950s. The musical Grease debuted, followed by the movie American Graffiti, which spawned the TV show Happy Days. My high school held a 1950s-themed dance nearly every year. And these were just a few of the cultural developments reflecting the national obsession of yearning for the 1950s.
What Caused the 1970s Nostalgia for the 1950s?
Fear. From the mid-1960s into the early 1970s, the United States was home to assassinations of public figures, student protests, race riots, inflation, falling stock market, recession, unemployment, rising gasoline prices, involvement in the Vietnam War, and the threat of nuclear attack. Confusion, turmoil, and uncertainty ruled the day, all of which led to people wishing for a return to a time of tranquility.
The problems of that period began with massive growth in government. President Lyndon Johnson introduced several social programs named the Great Society. He escalated America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, which was paid for with high taxes and inflation, which crippled the economy. Tethered by the gold standard, LBJ was limited in how much the currency could be inflated, so he removed the silver from U.S. coinage.
Then in 1971, President Richard Nixon took the country off the gold standard, which opened the floodgates of inflation (a hidden tax from which we still suffer today).
Most of the adults in the 1970s had lived in all or part of the 1950s, and they remembered the peace and prosperity of the post-World War II years that ran from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s (the three-year Korean conflict notwithstanding).
Their nostalgic sentiment continued into 1980 and led to the election of President Ronald Reagan. He spearheaded a bipartisan reduction of government regulation, social programs, and income taxes, stimulating economic growth over the next decade.
Nostalgia Is a Grieving Process
The term nostalgia was coined in 1688 by Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer from the Greek root words nostos which means “homecoming,” and algos, which means “pain,” to describe the extreme homesickness suffered by soldiers stationed abroad.
Souring circumstances can make us hark back to better times. Nostalgia is a yearning for the past that stimulates recollections of events we attended or participated in, people we care about, and places we have spent time.
It can be triggered by our sensory perception of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. How often has an old photo, a song, a flavor, or an odor stimulated your memories from a time long past? The smell of fresh-cut grass can instantly transport me back to the summers of my boyhood.
More than fear alone, a sense of loss triggers feelings of nostalgia. We become wistful for friends and family who have died, relationships that ended, the plenitude of easier economic eras, and freedoms lost. We grieve these losses by reminiscing the times when we still had them.
Advertisers Manipulate Our Susceptibility to Nostalgia
Advertisers (and some politicians) understand this phenomenon of nostalgia and work to take advantage of it. They tie vintage images, songs, and events from our past to create an artificial affinity for their products and services. Typically, they create marketing messages connected to a period of 20 to 40 years earlier. These messages are mostly geared toward people in the age range of 35 to 55 (the prime spending years of the average person).
Repeated exposure to an advertising message can inspire what is known as vicarious nostalgia, which makes us feel a yearning for a time that we did not personally experience but offers a sentimental value that we can relate to on an individual level.
I think of Blue Bell ice cream radio ads that make me relate to a rural life I’ve never experienced. I also love the country decor and gift store items (especially the old-timey candies) in Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Nostalgia Is Mostly a Good Thing
Modern psychologists say that nostalgia is good because it helps people improve their mood, increases social connectedness (by evoking memories of people who care about you), boosts positive mental attitude and our sense of purpose in life (it creates a sense of comfort when we experience change).
I can think of many old songs–that, when I hear them again–can make me feel better when I’m sad or inspire me when I’m feeling down on my luck.
Clay Routledge, existential psychologist and professor of business at North Dakota State University, said, “Nostalgia helps us remember that our lives can have meaning and value, helping us find the confidence and motivation to face the challenges of the future.”
Nostalgia Can Lead to a Better Future
Nostalgia causes us to rethink our current situation and question the strategies that landed us in troubled times. It leads to creative thinking, new ideas, and a willingness to change to resolve the problems and return to better conditions as we enjoyed in the past.
There's an old saying, “You can’t go home again;” nevertheless, nostalgia creates hope, often unsupported by evidence, for an expected positive event. But, when enough people collectively feel and communicate this, it often comes to pass.
Recently I have seen the resurgence of a national nostalgia for some past good old days (mostly the 1980s and 1990s). It appears to be triggered by the uncertainty of our current state of riots, protests, inflation, food shortages, rising gas prices, crashing stock markets, loss of individual rights and freedom, and the threat of a nuclear world war. I hope this will stimulate a lot of creativity, questioning authority, and uniting the people to push for a permanent period of peace and prosperity.
In closing, nostalgia helps us realize the Persian aphorism “This too shall pass” when we suffer from depression, sadness, and grief. Bad times are temporary, and when nostalgia triggers us to create positive change, it truly is a good thing.
