Watching Dynasty and reading Sidney Sheldon is so revealing about the 80s. Both Dallas and Dynasty had storylines about mothers taking jobs (Pam and Fallon) and their husbands having trouble with it. And all the 80s trashy novels that I loved so much--they're ALL about feminism and capitalism.
Every book is about a young man or woman, often an immigrant, who rises from total poverty to become the head of a huge super-rich conglomerate, all because of their own genius and hard work and often some need to get revenge or "show someone". That's the history-rich backstory that starts in chapter 2.
The rest of the book focuses on the daughter of this genius, and how she inherits the empire, and has to fend off all sorts of baddies.
There's still a lot of romance, or focus on the importance of having a relationship; but owning, running, and ruling a massive empire is a key part of the identity of all the heroines. And pretty much ALL these books are about business empires, like Dallas and Dynasty--money money money was obviously on our minds in les 80s.
And sex of course. As Scottie in the Star Trek movie would say: "It's excitin'!"
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