A Brief Analysis Of the Counterculture Movement of the 1960s

Hippies represent the ideological, naive nature that children possess. They feel that with a little love and conectedness, peace and equality will abound. It is with this assumption that so many activists and reformers, inspired by the transformation that hippies cultivated, have found the will to persist in revolutionizing social and political policy. Their alternative lifestyles and radical beleifs were the shocking blow that American culture-- segregation, McCarthyism, unjust wars, censorship--needed to prove that some Americans still had the common sense to care for one another. The young people of the sixties counterculture movement were successful at awakening awareness on many causes that are being fought in modern

    The Beat Generation can be perceived in many ways depending on how a person may translate the traits characterizing it but the real definition of this generation remains the same all throughout. The Beat Generation is a literary movement that happened during the 1950’s after World War II and was greatly influenced by a group of artists and authors who explored. The Beat movement was centralized in certain communities where freedom of expression was greatly prevalent. The lifestyle in bohemian centralized communities were explored and described by many authors and some of the most well-known authors of this generation are  Herbert Huncke, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Lucien Carr, and Jack Kerouac. All authors gave light to what beat generation was like through their work of art. They outlined that Beat Generation is an approach made by the people to reach a certain goal. Some of the goals are personal release and purification. Sounds familiar? These goals are more similar to the goals of yoga. These goals were attained mainly through the use of drugs, sex, and expressed in jazz music.. The Beat Generation is a  rejection of standard narrative values, spiritual quest, rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with drugs, and sexual exploration. All these components are widely known as the characteristics of “hippies” and

Counterculture (Pg. 48)- a group whose values, beliefs, norms, and related behaviors place its members in opposition to the broader culture

During the 1960s, different events occurred that changed Americans’ form of living. Numerous amounts of dissents from infuriated people and aggressive rioting helped spark a new society. New policies in the United States were created by John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. The United States of America had sent its soldiers to Vietnam and as a result started civil unrest and eventually a deadlock was in place. Soon, the sixties was the most violent period of the 1900s, primarily because of the number of people against the Vietnam involvement.

In today’s society, the 1960s are most commonly remembered for the counterculture, a period of social revolution and self-liberation. However, in addition to the commonly discussed social effects of the counterculture, there were also several notable effects of the movement on the medical field. While some of these new medical developments, such as the growth of recreational drug use and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, proved to be a setback for society, others would end up paving the way for further developments in modern medicine. The 1960s advancements in transplants, vaccinations, cancer treatments, and emergency procedure have proven to be timeless to the medical community; they are as relevant today as they were half a century ago.

Throughout American history, the countercultures have greatly influenced the societies of their respective eras. The Quakers, the Harlem Renaissance participants, and the Hippies have had an immense impact on American culture. This impact is especially apparent in the political actions and art一audio and visual一of the countercultures’ respective times.

On August 15th, 16th, and 17th of 1969, over half a million people gathered at Max Yasgur’s farm to witness music history. On these three days in Bethel, New York the Woodstock music and arts fair took place. Musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Who were all flown in to the small dairy farm in Bethel to give performances that would prove to resonate with all generations for years to come. While this event had a big impact on the world of music, it also played a prominent role in the 1960’s counterculture movement. In essence, the Woodstock festival represented everything that the counterculture movement stood for and proved to the world that the youth of the 1960’s was not one of a reckless nature. By maintaining a peaceful

The historic beat generation served as a bridge to the hippies in the early 1960’s. They were radical poets who opposed censorship. They were outspoken and placed a great deal of emphasis on drugs, alcohol, and sex. They were known for their eccentric writing styles. “Much of the poetry in the mid-‘50s was in a kind of neoformalist and academic mode that was very tame and highly intellectual and spoke to a small and elite audience” (Interview). However, the beat generation spoke to the rest of the population. They were elite, for they came from top notch universities, nonetheless, they wrote about the forbidden topics. No censorship, everything was placed out in the open for everyone to see. A prolific figurehead arose, Diane di Prima. She

The 1960s are marked by a plethora of social and political changes, with the counterculture movement being one of the most widely historicized and familiar aspects out of this period. While this movement did contribute positive change in some ways, it was also marked by increased drug usage amongst young people. Due to the inherent danger drugs impose on the individual, concerns were raised throughout the country. In response, President Richard Nixon would move enact legislation hoping to curb drug usage. This initial “war on drugs” was controversial through the first fifteen years and was marked with very little success. With the re-election of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan, public opinion on this “war” would soon change. During his second

Several factors contributed to the counterculture of the 1960s from the anti-authoritarian engagements of preceding decades. The post-World War II ‘baby boom’ produced an extraordinary number of disaffected young people as potential partakers in a rethinking of the direction of American values. Post-war success permitted many of the counterculture generation to divert their attention from the benefaction of the material necessities of life that had preoccupied their Depression-era parents. People started to recognize that they could get what they want if they work hard enough for it, and if their voice is loud enough. The era was also distinguished in that a great portion of the range of conducts and ‘causes’ within the larger effort were quickly assimilated within the public. John Lennon, member of The Beatles and a model hippie, once said, “When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game.” Ken Kesey was a big believer is this notion and used his writings as a way to introduce people to this concept. Through the use of a 1950s mental ward, Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest draws inspiration from both the philosophy of Beat culture and the personal life experiences of the author. The novel’s setting reveals not only the devastating effects of enduring hardships on patients’ mental states, but also symbolizes the suppression of individuality by the establishment.

The Conquest of Cool examines the common perception of the Sixties counterculture. It questions the idea that the revolution and rebellion of the subculture of the 1960s in America against the consumer driven culture of the 1950s were actually a consumer driven rebellion in and of itself. The book 's primary message is to describe how Advertisers and other big business in corporate America such as soda pop bottlers and clothing companies welcomed the counterculture and perhaps were responsible for creating it. Consumer driven industry realized that instant gratification would make this new generation better consumers than their frugal post world war 2 parents. The book hints that the art and creative self-expression of the counterculture in 1960s America was reflected in, and driven by the advertising of the time, suggesting that life imitates art or that advertising imitates the culture. However, the author also suggests that advertisers anticipated the revolution and in part precipitated the counterculture, creating the culture that it marketed freedom to. We see that the 1950s advertising was characterized by an entity known as, "Organization Man.” A fabricated mold that would fit easily in the capitalist machine. During the 1950s ad agencies and advertising companies marketed a lifestyle to fit this most common mold. They tailor-made advertisements to the desires of the subculture as well as corporations. Corporations wanted a safe scientific advertising, yet the

During the 1960s Music was heavily influenced by the political and social events happening at the time. At this time civil rights movements were common as many people were trying to spread the emancipation of racism and segregation. As a result the music of the time tended to reflect this counterculture of peace. This “culture” encompassed civil rights, anti-establishment and, inciting revolution. This was a vital time in history for civil rights activists as well as anti-war revolutionaries and the music industry. From folk music to rock music, everyone was affected by the war and chose to express it through the most international form of art, music. Anti-war activists and counterculture enthusiast craved the music that truly expressed

Burroughs. These figures are often often viewed as anti-establishment, indifferent, self-serving, and born out of the prosperous postwar era; a childish phase of rebellion that went on too long, inspired too many followers and was only interested in garnering attention. It is often overlooked that Beatniks had ideals and experiences, and getting to the heart of their essence has been proven difficult, as a multitude of different individuals inhibit the group, offering entirely different philosophies relating to their art. In order to understand and define them, it is important to recognize that the Beat Movement came directly out of the war. When categorizing them, there is an undeniable opposition to the oppressive society in which they all lived and shared.

Jack Kerouac was one of a group of young men who, immediately after the Second World War, protested against what they saw as the blandness, conformity and lack of cultural purpose of middle-class life in America. The priorities of people of their age, in the mainstream of society, were to get married, to move the suburbs, to have children and to accumulate wealth and possessions. Jack Kerouac and his friends consciously rejected this pursuit of stability and instead looked elsewhere for personal fulfillment. They were the Beats, the pioneers of a counterculture that came to be known as the Beat Generation. The Beats saw mainstream life as a prison. They wanted freedom, the freedom to pick up and go at a moments notice. This search for

The elements of the Beat Generation’s poetry are drugs, sexuality, religion centering on the Eastern World, rejection of materialism and freedom of expression. The members of this movement were known as non-conformists and were spontaneously creative in their writings. Thomas Merrill states that the influence of drugs in the movement was: