nathan> The largest regression has been in the mass loss of unions
nathan> as a percentage of the workforce, which means far fewer
nathan> people have access to workplace remedies not mediated by the
nathan> government. So the gains in government protections of
nathan> certain rights has been counterbalanced (and some argue
nathan> related) to the loss of protections of rights through
nathan> unions.
Many feminists (bell hooks, Dworkin, and others) think there's been a regression in advancement toward liberation for women, too. I count the failure of "the left" (such as it was in the 80s, though all that Central American solidarity stuff seemed pretty damn effective) to get broadly behind the feminist anti-pornography movement as contributing to that regression.
Putting a serious crimp in the multibillion dollar porn industry, which directly benefits large corps like AT&T, would conceivably have led, if the studies Mackinnon and Dworkin (and several pro-porn members of the judiciary as well) rely on are correct, to a decrease in sexual violence and other structural features of women's second-class status.
Instead, the pro-sex Suzie Bright, Pat Califa element of feminism became dominant, and now porn is more mainstream and more widespread than ever before. As far as I know, yearly rape, molestation, and sexual assault statistics are largely unchanged.
Best, Kendall Clark