The past decade or so has produced a great deal of scholarly dialogue about a crisis in legitimacy. The events which are seen as having produced this crisis are variously discussed by different authors and include the following: (1) the student ferment of the 1960s and early 1970s; (2) the disillusionment produced by Stalin and the failure of the socialist experiment; (3) the non-tractable dependency of third world nations; (4) the reemergence of ethnic identities challenging the hegemony of entrenched majorities; (5) the challenge to patriarchal dominance by the women's liberation movement; (6) the failure of the welfare state; (7) the growth of evangelical religions indicating a dissatisfaction with existing secular order; (8) the problem of homelessness and the inability (unwillingness) to deal with this; (9) the increased use of drugs by the middle and upper class, not seen as a problem when restricted to the ghettos; (10) the emergence and growth of neo-conservatism; (11) the crisis in health care; and (12) the growth of outright greed and corruption during the Reagan years.