One of the differences today is that there is no obvious political influence in the development of the music. In the early sixties, Communists and socialists like Seeger and MacColl tried to manipulate folk music to serve their political ends.....in doing so they attracted a large number of young people who simply wanted change without regard to the fact that we were in the throws of a huge economic and manufacturing revolution, many complicated issues to be overcome simply by singing about the perceived injustices.    Fortunately their false gods like Dylan and other popular celebrity folkies soon showed that they were, like most of us, more interested in personal advancement than in changing society, to the fury of the politically engaged.
The folk movement today is all about personal advancement. The great traditional songs were not about changing society, but were a celebration of all the facets of humanity, a pride in the hardships to be endured...competitions of strength, ability to do hard jobs like mining, farming, fishing and even soldiering. Many of the songs of poor working conditions were a celebration of human spirit over adversity.
Today's society has lost everything that folk music celebrated.