US society went through a significant change during WWII.  My mom who had been an elementary school teacher had to quit when she got married because schools did not permit married teachers to, well, teach.  She got a call after the war started from a principal saying she had to go back to teaching because it was her patriotic duty (since men teachers had been drafted)!

This kind of historical perspective is why I'm pretty gloomy about the future.  My maternal grandmother grew up in a cabin in Ohio in the late 1800's.  The local Indians came in after they went to bed to sleep by the fire - and this is a story by itself.  My parents had no electricty as kids; only gas lights and "real" ice boxes.  Electricity was a big deal.  One of the things that speaks toward the future was something my great grandmother used to tell my mom and her sisters once they got "radio", "Watch what you say because they'll hear your comments."

My point regarding WWII and the past is that people accepted life as it was.  You couldn't over consume because you were lucky to have food and a roof over your head.  During WWII, there was a shared societal consciousness to do whatever it took to "bring the boys home."

I cannot conceive of this kind of, I'm at a loss for words here, action in a post peak energy world.  Especially one with rampant financial problems.  The real issue as I indicated in a post above, is whether this is still possible,