Before 1980, equities were considered risky (and were so, compared to bonds and annuities) and were seen as a "rich person's game", but this changed once people became educated about the "equity premium", which may no longer exist, and diversification.
That also happened in the 60's -- mutual funds, in particular the 'performance' funds, grew pretty fast. In the 20's, diversification wasn't popular, but stocks sure were. And even earlier than that, there were investment crazes that were fairly democratic. The widespread adoption of treasury bonds for individual investors in the 1860's was nothing like the mania for stocks in the late 1990's -- except to the extent that it was a larger mania than anyone up to that point had experienced.
So I don't think looking at the 80's and 90's as new and original is all that useful. It's a cycle.
That also happened in the 60's -- mutual funds, in particular the 'performance' funds, grew pretty fast. In the 20's, diversification wasn't popular, but stocks sure were. And even earlier than that, there were investment crazes that were fairly democratic. The widespread adoption of treasury bonds for individual investors in the 1860's was nothing like the mania for stocks in the late 1990's -- except to the extent that it was a larger mania than anyone up to that point had experienced.
So I don't think looking at the 80's and 90's as new and original is all that useful. It's a cycle.