History Main / SocietyMarchesOn

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' tried to avert this. On one hand, they had minorities and women in Starfleet, which was [[FairForItsDay progressive for the '60s]], and [[EverybodySmokes no one smoking]]. But the women were still wearing miniskirts as military uniforms and, although never explicitly told to StayInTheKitchen, they were often portrayed as {{Distressed Damsel}}s.

** In base 8.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' tried to avert this. On the one hand, they had minorities and women in Starfleet, which was [[FairForItsDay progressive for the '60s]], and [[EverybodySmokes no one smoking]]. But the women were still wearing miniskirts as military uniforms and, although never explicitly told to StayInTheKitchen, they were often portrayed as {{Distressed Damsel}}s.

*** This troper actually finds a good deal of humour in that. Making a statement that humans are so primitive that they still find even commonplace items to be fascinating? I think the joke still stands, even if it may have morphed a bit by changing cultural and technological standards.
*** This troper is now embarrassed to admit that they are actually pretty impressed by their digital watch. It has an alarm and everything.

*** On the peripheries world that lost technology and reverted to warlords and barbaric pratices. Bayta Darell was raise on Terminus and wasn't just an obedient wife. [[spoiler:At least one of the second foundation's agent was also female but I guess it was a given since they wanted to be close to ruling man.]] None of the scientists are woman.

* ''Camelot3000'', written in the 1980s, had a still-segregated South Africa in the eponymous year, far outdoing 2001.

* ''Camelot 3000'', written in the 1980s, had a still-segregated South Africa in the eponymous year, far outdoing 2001.

* ''Caves of Steel'' ans ''The Naked Sun'' by IsaacAsimov both mention corporal punishment to children as a routine occurrence thousands of years in the future. Doesn't seem '''that''' likely now.

* Isaac Asimov's {{Foundation}} series has gender roles that are completely identical to the 1950s United States, at least in the early books.
** On the peripheries world that lost technology and reverted to warlords and barbaric pratices. Bayta Darell was raise on Terminus and wasn't just an obedient wife. [[spoiler:At least one of the second foundation's agent was also female but I guess it was a given since they wanted to be close to ruling man.]] None of the scientists are woman.
** Another Isaac Asimov example: Susan Calvin is presented as a strong feminist character who holds her own against the male-dominated robotics industry ... Except, wait, why is society still so sexist in 2065?
*** A great example: In the short story ''Feminine Intuition'', the designers of a subtly [[FemBot feminine-looking robot]] believe that everyone will assume it is mentally inferior to other robots. One character explicitly states that if there's ''anything'' the average person believes, it's that women are less intelligent than men. Upon saying this, he nervously glances around (Susan Calvin having recently retired). At the end, after Calvin comes back to save the day, the lesson is that men dismiss women's equal (if not superior) intelligence as mere "intuition."
** And, of course, ''everyone'' smokes.
* ''[[http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0743436067/0743436067__17.htm Cocoon]]'', a short story by KeithLaumer, has everyone living in virtual reality tanks a couple hundred years in the future. The husband "goes" to a virtual office and does virtual paperwork, while the wife sits at "home", does virtual housework and watches virtual soap operas all day. When the husband comes "home", he complains because the wife hasn't gotten around to punching the selector buttons for the evening nutripaste meal yet.

* ''Camelot 3000'', written in the 1980s, had a still-segregated South Africa in the eponymous year, far outdoing 2001. And the attitude toward lesbians, while pretty advanced for the time, are quite out of step now.

* The RayBradbury short story ''The Wilderness'' (1952) revolves around women sitting around being terrified about relocating (in this case, moving to Mars) just to get married (yet speaking as if they ''have to'' go), talking about being "old maids" if they don't go, and complaining about how "the men" make all their decisions for them...in 2003.

* ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' has several parts where social mores have not dated so well. One example is the alien from Betelgeuse who tries to pretend he's human, and English, by adopting what he thought was a very common name - [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Prefect Ford Prefect]]. While probably funny back when the first radio serial was released, the fact that he's named after a car that hasn't been around for nearly half a century completely ruins the joke, and to date ''no'' adaptation has changed the name to something like "Ford Focus" or "Ford Fiesta". Another possible example is the claim that humans are "ape-descended life forms" that "are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea". This was back when digital watches were fairly new but not totally ubiqitious, but reading it now, can you think of ''anybody'' in a developed world that is still that impressed with digital watches?

*** This troper actually finds a good deal of humour in that. Making a statement that humans are so primative that they still find even commonplace items to be fascinating? I think the joke still stands, even if it may have morphed a bit by changing cultural and technological standards.

* ''Camelot 3000'', written in the 1980s, had a still-segregated South Africa in the eponymous year, far outdoing 2001.

** Given that USA-USSR relations seem to be pretty friendly, and Apartheid survived until the 80s, it doesn't seem so hilariously wrong.
** As for apartheid in 2061: the novel of that name makes it clear that it had already ended in South Africa (by a bloodless revolution, admittedly) and was now supported only by a few Eugene Terreblanche clones living in exile.

*** Perhaps that Ford was entirely out of touch with how actual humans thought?
*** {{Fridge Brilliance}}. Only non-space-faring species would have any use for watches at all. Different planets have different day lengths, and there is no time of day in the middle of deep space without a sun to create the day.
**** A timekeeping device is absolutely vital when you're in an environment, like the depths of space or the ocean, where there is no natural indicator of the passage of time. What system of time it keeps is largely irrelevant.

** Society perhaps doesn't march on as quickly as some think. Republican politician Katon Dawson had his attempt to become the Republican National Committee chairman sunk in part because it was revealed that he'd resigned from his whites-only country club two months before in what was seen as a transparent attempt to distance himself from, well, an all-white country club. He felt he had to do this because it would look bad given that the Democratic nominee for president that year was named Barack Obama. Yes, in 2008, there were (and still are) racist golf clubs.
* [[NealStephenson Neal Stephenson's]] ''{{Anathem}}'' largely averts this, with the opening pages being two of the avout interviewing a member of society to discover what to expect in terms of moods, politics, prejudices, etc. when the concent opens.

* Little known fact: BoosterGold averts this in an early appearance. When battling the Royal Flush Gang, the female Ten walks up to him and invokes WouldntHitAGirl...only for Booster to awkwardly tell her that, in the 25th century, equality of the sexes is a given, so he really has no reason not to punch her out.
* The ''2000AD'' story ''Harry Twenty on the High Rock'' (1982-83) has a workmanlike go at averting this. The titular orbital prison is operated by the European Blok and Russo-China, and the Judicial Council is made up of a young white woman, an old white woman and a black man.

*** Actually, the line was something like "Your world of starship captains had no room for women," which doesn't necessarily mean Star Fleet didn't allow women captains, but that Captain Kirk's career as a starship captain made long-term relationships with women impossible, a theme which was prevalent in TOS.

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* The {{Fallout}} games are set in the future of a world with an AlternateHistory, WhatIf the Cold War never ended? Well, apparently we'd be stuck with 1950s-style fashion, architecture, and mentalities until 2077, at which point [[NukeEm most of the United States gets a thermonuclear suntan]]. Even then, the survivors cling to most of the mentalities of the fifties, with the possible exception of there being less sexism and racism. This means that, for example, the cars look like classic '50s finned "tanks"--only nuclear-powered--and their [[HumongousMecha giant robots]] spew anti-communist rhetoric as they crush the opposition. They even still listen to music from the mid-to-late 1940s.
** It should be pointed out that this is highly intentional, and in fact, much of the appeal and popularity of the games come from their unique blend of '50s retro and post-apocalyptic styles.
** Still, it's probably in an effort to avoid this trope in part that it's those DirtyCommunists in Red ''China'', not Russia, that everyone is most afraid of.
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** There are also no black people in ''Jetsons''...
*** ....[[SarcasmMode black people having been apparently invented in 1967.]]
** At least in the original 60s run, the above was true. The 80s revival mostly averts this and took a more updated/modern approach to things, including showing minorities and Jane driving.
** In fairness ''TheJetsons'' is a comedy, and thus is as much about spoofing [[TheSixties contemporary society]] as our expectations of what the future will be like.

** I remember an episode where George and Jane find out they aren't legally married, and they have another wedding with Judy and Elroy standing up for them. After they referred to their parents as "Mom" and "Dad" during the ceremony, the preacher was obviously extremely shocked that an unmarried couple had children together.
*** Of course, even today, a preacher (at least a fairly conservative one) ''would'' be fairly uncomfortable about that, even if the practice is not uncommon.

* ''[[http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0743436067/0743436067__17.htm Cocoon]]'', a short story by KeithLaumer, has everyone living in virtual reality tanks a couple hundred years in the future. The husband "goes" to a virtual office and does virtual paperwork, while the wife sits at "home", does virtual housework and watches virtual soap operas all day. When the husband comes "home", he bitches because the wife hasn't gotten around to punching the selector buttons for the evening nutripaste meal yet.

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* These postcards from the 1900 show a disgustingly sexist and classist 2000 with their primtiive fashions; http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/postcards-showing-year-2000-circa-1900.html

Related to ScienceMarchesOn and TheGreatPoliticsMessUp. EternalProhibition and EverybodySmokes are specific cases.