Counterculture - Research Paper

From 1949 to 1969 the amount of televisions grew from one million to about 45 million. The amount of TV stations grew from a mere 69 to almost 570. The amount of Americans with at least one TV grew to 96% of America by 1970.

New appliances were a big part of the technological and social change during the 1920s. The appliances were a big change and was the first attempt of a “smart house”. It affected housewives because now that the appliances were there, society expected them to clean the house faster and keep it tidy all day.

During the sixties, American people saw the rise of the counterculture. Counterculture was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, mainly embraced by the decade’s young adults. Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society as a whole. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements had made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and a more freer country. In 1969, close to half a million self-described hippies,peace makers, and Aquarians made an expedition from mainly San Francisco to Woodstock in upstate New York. The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was called an Aquarian Exposition and hailed as three days of peace and music, over 400,000 people attended; it was peaceful. However, life outside of the woodstock festival was not. America seemed to be dividing as a country. The war in Vietnam went on for roughly another 15 years. American boys were still being sent to Southeast Asia by the newly elected President, Nixon. The increasingly unpopular war intensified a campus protest movement. Burning draft cards and peace marches became daily fare on the evening news. And not all of the demonstrations were peaceful. The summer after Martin Luther King was assassinated, riots broke out in 125 cities including, Chicago, Baltimore, NYC, Kansas City, and Cincinnati. Meanwhile, at the Democratic convention in Chicago, the anti-war movement tore the Democratic Party in two. Both critics and fans agree that Woodstock has become part of the mythology of the 1960s, even if the actual event didn't necessarily represent the musical or political taste of most of the young Americans adults at this time. Some say it symbolized the freedom and idealism of the 1960s. Some argue that Woodstock represented much of everything that was wrong with the sixties: a glorification of drugs, a loosening of sexual morality and a socially corrosive disrespect for authority.

When one looks back on the frenetic 1960s, conservative sentiments aren’t usually the first thing to come to mind. Yet, while the New Left and the radical counterculture were reshaping cultural ideals, it was the New Right who emerged from the 1960s as a viable political force. The New Left can be categorized as a broad, largely youthful, movement with the goal to challenge various social norms and to institute a “participatory democracy”. Moreover, the New Left was “New” in a sense that they differed from the labor-centered liberal elites at the time; insisting on creating larger, more radical changes to society. On the other hand, the New Right was a largely grassroots movement aimed to restore traditionalist values from the “Eastern Establishment.” The New Right was “New” in a sense that it revitalized conservative hope at a time when those hopes looked mighty bleak. When analyzing the wildly different outcomes of the two movements, it becomes apparent that the New Right’s political-oriented manner to achieve their goals proved to be the decisive factor in maintaining long-term stability; something the confrontational New Left did not have the resources to achieve from the outset.

By the 1970s, owning a wide range of home appliances was deemed essential for daily living.

Blood Brothers Historical Context Willy Russell He was born in 1947 to a working-class family. After being a hairdresser, and then a teacher, he started to write songs and plays. He loved popular music, like the Beatles, which is shown in ‘Blood Brothers’.

At the time the idea of Jonestown came to fruition the United States was experiencing political and social unrest. It was mid 1960’s, the height of the Vietnam War, nuclear tension threatened every corner in every community across the country. Still, there was the ongoing struggle for civil rights, from which a counterculture began to grow as black power sprouted from the civil rights movements, radical activist groups organized occupying all public spaces across the US.

The Hippie Movement changed the politics and the culture in America in the 1960s. When the nineteen fifties turned into the nineteen sixties, not much had changed, people were still extremely patriotic, the society of America seemed to work together, and the youth of America did not have much to worry about, except for how fast their car went or what kind of outfit they should wear to the Prom. After 1963, things started to slowly change in how America viewed its politics, culture, and social beliefs, and the group that was in charge of this change seemed to be the youth of America. The Civil Rights Movement, President Kennedy's death, new music, the birth control pill, the growing illegal drug market, and the

The 1920’s were a period of dramatic change in the lives of many Americans. It was a time of loose behavior and its atmosphere was characterized by recklessness. For this reason, the 1920's are now regarded as time period devoid of morality. As changes occurred in American life to encompass the new societal trends of the time, the American Dream, consequently, changed as well. Throughout the 1920’s, the American Dream was most affected by the rise of new technology, which made the people of America more interconnected, causing them to reevaluate their lives in terms of other people, rather than themselves.

Each new music genre introduces the counterculture or opposition of previous generation’s values. Led Zeppelin sparked the beginning of the heavy metal culture-- the counterculture to psychedelic rock. The anti-war movement was also prevalent in this counterculture. Led Zeppelin and the Vietnam War influenced the new, darker, generation of rock: heavy metal.

This process can be extremely complex because not all the time groups of people like these yearn to assimilate the country where they are, for many of them is better defend the culture of their home, something that can bring difficulties as marginalization and rejection. Others make the process of assimilation of partial and pragmatic way, clarify, they assume the dominant cultural elements in society and retain their own demonstrations in a very intimate level.Others demonstrate freedom to take their host culture and forget their origins frequently and even manage to disown them. With much logic I believe that children are much more open to cultural assimilation than others. If we talk about loss of culture and values we approach immigrant assimilation, but if their own traits persist and are at the break. The problem is that the theory does not leave between seeing the possibility of maintaining loss and gain at the same time. The choices always move between the ordained and exclusive poles integrated into the host society or relegating losing part of habitus, or conversely, to resist and maintain original features above

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.

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

With the economic decline and availability of jobs with upward movement, a culture of youths formed in Britain that challenged the ideals and cultural norms of the generations that came before them. A consistent movement from traditional society through youth subcultures brings light through the eyes of the musicians that describe their generation’s feelings of homelessness in an era filled with unemployment, low wages, and violence. The insurgence of the counterculture movement, poor economic conditions, and the commercialization of previous Rock and Roll music in Britain directly led to the punk subculture because it allowed youths to speak up about their conditions and frustrations through an easily understood and accessible medium while maintaining a different stance than their predecessors.

Refrigerators, gas and electric ovens, microwaves, vacuums, dishwashers....the list goes on and on. All these things have made housework tremendously easier than it would have been about 100 years ago.