Not that these weren't part of the fabric of social revolution 40-odd years back, but they were not so much seen as targets as things to distance yourself from.
Catchphrases such as "turn on, tune in, drop out" gave impetus to the idea that one could somehow remove oneself from society and make a different life outside its strictures.
Of course, the canny corporates bit back, dangling the techno-rewards of creative effort in front of millions who thought themselves liberated - yet swallowed the hook.
Why? Because primarily that was a middle-class movement and the better-educated young radicals were happy to have their "true worth" recognised and their egos pandered to. Besides, they'd won, hadn't they?
This new anti-corporate or anti-greed movement - it's not anti-capitalist per se, but it might as well be - is different in that respect, too.
First, it's not about age. Young, old, middle are all equally represented. Second, it's not defined by class - excepting the mega-rich.
No, it's about opportunity versus opportunism, hard graft versus inheritance, fair play versus floating bids. Corporate manipulation of money and resources at the expense and livelihood of billions of ordinary you-and-mes.
In that sense, you could say it's the next step up. Recognition that all those who sold out to big business in the 70s and 80s are now about to get their come-uppance and discover that while the grass may be greener, it's rooted in the suffering of the underprivileged - and those at the roots have real power.
They are now beginning to exercise it, because the austerity measures introduced in Greece and Italy and Portugal and elsewhere to cope with the ineptitude of the moneyed elite are strangling those roots and leaching the soil they should grow in.
Many of those affected have nothing more to lose. Despite grand rhetoric about reform of the monetary system and tighter regulation of currency and commodity trade, little has been done, to less effect. Ordinary folk are still going broke; banks and their owners are still making oodles.
And unlike the crash of 1929 which sparked the Great Depression, no financial traders are jumping out of windows. No, they sit on their balconies and sip champagne and laugh while the protesters pass by beneath them.
One the most chilling interviews I've seen in awhile aired on the BBC website a couple of weeks back. In it, a New York trader of an indeterminately-polished age cheerfully explained that it didn't matter a crock to him or his mates if Europe went down the gurgler, because they'd all be making money off the crash. And making money from misfortune was all that mattered.
I should not need to remind that John Key was, not very long ago, one of those cut-throat financial traders. To my mind, he still is. "A Brighter Future", proclaims the National Party election slogan. Fine - but for whom? With greed worshipped as the ruling ethos and no respite in sight for the poor, it's no wonder increasing throngs worldwide are taking to the streets and demanding change. And with clear targets to attack, those throngs may soon threaten to beat down the doors of capitalism and end its money-for-money's-sake creed. All power to them, I say. That's the right of it.
Bruce Bisset is a freelance writer and poet.
