The Great Compression (1945-1980)
concept
The mid-century era of shared prosperity only happened because two world wars killed off millions.
Who they are
The Great Compression, the period from 1945 to 1980 of lower inequality and rising wages.
What they do
In this theory (from Peter Turchin), it was a temporary window of reduced inequality, higher real wages, and cooperating elites.
How it works
The World Wars violently thinned out both the workforce and the surplus of elites, which temporarily broke the cycle of worsening conditions — but it didn't fix the underlying pattern, it just reset the clock for about 35 years.
Why it matters
The theory holds that today's crisis of too many elites competing is the Great Compression unwinding, meaning that stability was bought by mass death, not by solving the root problem.
The engine's record — word for word
Turchin SDT: post-WWII period of reduced inequality, rising real wages, elite accommodation. The wars violently culled both labor pool and excess elites, temporarily resolving the immiseration cycle. Did not solve the underlying mathematical pattern — merely reset the clock. Current elite overproduction crisis is the Great Compression unwinding. The wars bought 35 years of stability by killing millions.
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