Introduction

Where have the revolutions gone? What happens with the passion of the day once movements are no longer publicly visible – what does it transform into? And what are the lessons learned? Our concern in this chapter is to critically examine the idealism of political movements following the moment of 1968, by listening to the voices of adults who have been engaged in a range of activist projects over their lifetime. Our discussion is founded on in-depth life story interviews with adults in the UK, however to contextualize and analyse this material we draw on theories about new social movements developed by European thinkers, as well as on feminist and post-colonialist criticism mainly from the US. We are interested to get beyond simple historical description and celebration and to trace the finer lines and subtle legacies of the spirit of '68 and its follow-on movements of the 1970s and 80s. The focus here is not on spectacular actions and major players, but rather on how adults make sense of participation in extraordinary actions and events within the context of ‘ordinary’ lives.