I wonder about the arrow of causation for conformity back in the 40's. This essay describes WWII as a spark of a generation of conformity (preceded by the New Deal for some). But it's really hard to imagine modern society signing on to a world war. What's to stop parents afraid of vaccinations from taking their draft-age children to New Zealand?
Was there something else that was already more conformist? Or was there another proximate cause, maybe even one as simple as a perceived global threat (communism, fascism) combined with a lack of individual physical mobility?
The essay is good and makes a strong point in and of itself, but I wonder if there's other variables it (and I) are missing.
If pg is reading, one piece of concrete feedback:
> the LBO wave?
LBO wasn't defined in the text previously and I had to google it (it's leveraged buy-out).