Mad Men captured the America of the 1960s, a highly-mobile America, with extraordinary realism. But the US today, is a far cry from then. In some ways, of course, Americans are more mobile than before. But in more material ways, they have fewer avenues for advancement.
Getting a copy job at a New York advertising firm without a college degree, would be impossible. Children of parents with limited resources to pay for higher education are not only less likely to go to college, they are less likely to graduate if they do enrol. Undergraduate diplomas, now a basic requirement for a financially comfortable life, are soaring. Further, there is no guarantee of a job after graduation.
As the “Mad Men” drama unspooled on TV during a time of spiralling income inequality, it was clear that the era of middle-class affluence we were gazing back on was a historical anomaly.
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