Permanent Impact of the Counter-Culture on Today's American Society

The time: the 1960s. The place: United States of America. Who? The youth. Doing what? Using drugs. Why? Many reasons. The 1960s proved to be a very turbulent time in the history of American youth growing up. There were many different activist movements all over the country. The primary drug user was the male college student involved in politics. He used mostly marijuana, some cocaine or LSD and of course alcohol. The sixites culminated with perhaps the biggest public scene of drug use ever: Woodstock. American youth in the sixties turned to drugs for a variety of reasons including the Vietnam War, the feeling of rebellion, activist movements, and the general pleasure-oriented society.

Their dissatisfaction with the consumerism values and goals, with the work ethic, and with the dependence on technology (Edgar and Sedwick, 2008) fuelled their belief to set themselves free from this mainstream culture using drugs such as LSD to open their minds and become spiritual and free. Their fashion consisted of floral headbands and clothing, flared jeans and bare feet. In January of 1967, a Human Be-in in Golden Gate Park San Francisco publicised the culture and this lead to the Summer of Love (The Naked Truth……….., 2014). According to Philippa(Toturhunt.com, 2015), this culture has since moved on and developed, in the sense of beliefs, to become what is now known as the rave culture. Which followed on from the hippie culture of listening to music in fields, with spiritual and honing on values that counter the popular culture whilst using recreational drugs to open the mind and push the beliefs of the hippie culture of their predecessors. Rather than psychedelics this new culture used amphetamines such as MDMA and brought together every different kind of person. Either way, drugs have played part in counterculture for a very long time, and it didn 't end at with the hippies.

The 1960’s presented Hippies with the chance to express their beliefs and attitudes in a number of diverse

This formed a closely-knit cultural unit around music, where the relationship between consumer and product were not as distanced compared to capitalistic society. The sincere anti-war messages advertised by the musicians, according to Storey, were a modification of Gramsci’s principle of collective organic intellectuals. It was not simply about trends and fashion, but an authentic resistance culture. Storey claims the counterculture was built from the bottom up, yet was still caught under American capitalism and encountered with being incorporated into the capitalistic industry. Musicians began to crossover into popular American culture, causing divisions within the community. Musicians were forced by the limitations of capitalism to surrender to its authority, thus came the collapse of the movement. Incorporation began with the first commercialized music festival, the success of Woodstock, violence at various counterculture gatherings, and the draft lottery. This tested the devotion of members to the community, and twisted public perception negatively. Counterculture ended with the Vietnam War and a new area of War veterans

Drugs highly influence music in the sixties with bands such as The Byrds, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and The Beatles. These bands took inspiration from the affects that the drugs had on them with their psychedelic properties. Drugs were also just starting to get introduced and people were highly influenced with positive drug propaganda (“The 60 's”). So, the positivity about drugs were influencing the bands and the bands were influencing the people and the more dugs being bought, the more people heard about them, and the more people heard about them, the more they were used, so basically it was just an endless cycle of drug positivity.

The hippie movements of the sixties were driven by a plethora of factors. There were many new technologies that were being introduced in this period, a war against Communism around the globe, internal struggles against several types of injustices, a growing drug culture, and several other important developments. To say the least, it was a volatile period in American history and many sub-cultures were actively seeking to carve out new paths that were starkly different than the traditional norms. These generations who rejected traditional culture helped carve out a new trajectory for the United States and the movements influences can still be felt to this day.

This is best described as a movement that included middle class, young college kids who were in a state of illusion due to the Vietnam War and all the violent protests breaking out during this time era.

Hippie drug use was more than just use, it was the practice of psychedelic drugs, in order to spread love and happiness. Some of the many drugs hippies used were LSD (acid), mushrooms, DMT, marijuana, amphetamines, and narcotics. Hippies most often used the drugs and others that fall into the psychedelic hallucinogenic category. Hippies were referred to as “drug using counterculture shared belief in better living through chemistry” (Wesson). The hallucinogen drugs were for mind-expansion, seeing the world through colors. All in order to get crazy high to spread love, peace, and happiness. This was more of a spiritual practice for hippies. The easiest and most common way for them to use these drugs was by rolling them in paper and smoking them. As one can see, the drug use in the hippie culture was a very important toll for the peace, love, and happiness aspect of the culture.

In the summer of 1969, a music festival known as “Woodstock” took place for three straight days in Upstate, New York with thirty-two musical acts playing, and over 400,000 people from around the world coming to join this musical and peaceful movement. Woodstock started out being a small concert, created to promote peace in the world. Now, Woodstock is still being celebrated over 40 years later. This three day music festival represented the perfect concert for the “baby boomers” during a messy political time. Woodstock significantly impacted the counterculture era of the 1960’s in a number of ways; how it began, the ideas of the concert, the sense of union and love it represented and it

In the book, American Counterculture, the author discussed how even though the protests at Woodstock did not help end the Vietnam war immediately, “but American politicians carefully weighed the costs and benefits of future military engagements, wary of repeating the mistakes that drew millions of protesters into the streets during the Sixties,” Because of the mindset of the hippies during the 60s, Richard Brownell said in an interview, “The widespread acceptance of ethnic and racial minorities, different religious views, gender and sexuality were all made possible because of the mindset embraced by the counterculture.” It has been 49 years since the Woodstock festival and there has been multiple reunions, and it is widely known for its music and connection to the counterculture. The festival did not only impact the counterculture but it also impacted each individual at the concert. It gave them a place to gather and share the same values as thousands of other people. The three days of this iconic festival left a lasting effect on the counterculture and to everyone at the

As America was fighting a war for freedom in another country, unruly teens were fighting their own at home. Cultural change, the explosion of free love, youthful rebellion, and a new liberal mindset all seemed to have one underlying device in common; drug use. The late 1960’s into the early and mid-70’s found the perfect environment for recreational drug use. Music and arts celebrated this lifestyle, as well as free thinkers and their idiotic philosophies about spiritual elation through mind altering narcotics. Lack of family structure with so many homes transformed by the Vietnam War also left young teens without guidance, and an economy with little to offer to the up and coming generation. As the next few years passed and the free love generation began to grasp the concept of working for a living, showering on a regular basis, love with commitment (or antibiotics), and cultural change through policy, they brought to the workforce a new dynamic not previously prevalent. Recreational drug use had become part of society. Vietnam War veterans also brought their own demons home with their return, opiate addictions were a common occurrence (Carson 2012).

The 1960’s impacted the United States in profound ways. With the seventy million baby boomers growing into their teens, they brought with them change that is still evolving in our society today. The sixties was a time where American culture moved from being conservative to new and insightful ways of thinking. With these changes, it brought a new counter culture that would be known as the hippie culture. The hippies led way into a new sexual revolution that would break the old fashioned boundaries. The hippies also ushered in a new era where drugs became popular to a large public as well as within their own culture. Drugs were becoming a part of American culture, as well as new scientific research, into the benefits

The Hippie Counter Culture began in 1960. The hippie era was influenced more by personal happiness in which books, music, and fashion followed as result of their personification of a blissful society. Hippies did not care what others thought of them and their motto was “if it feels good, do it”. Hippies were seeking a utopian society. They participated in street theater and listened to psychedelic rock. As part of their culture they embraced more open sexual encounters amongst each other in their community and believed in use of psychedelic drugs which consisted of marijuana and LSD. The fashion choice that hippies dressed in was due to set them apart from the mainstream society. They choose to buy their clothing from thrift shops and flea markets (Haddock, 2011). Clothing choices are described as “brightly colored, ragged clothes, tie-dyed t-shirts, beads, sandals (or barefoot), and jewelry” (Haddock, 2011, para 7). Hippies also referred

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 “hippies” of the 1960s had many effects on the American society. The visual appearance and lifestyle of the hippies were in sharp contrast to the conservative nature of the older generation, which defined them as a counterculture. The hippie lifestyle was based on free love, rock music, shared property, and drug experimentation. They introduced a new perspective on drugs, freedom of expression, appearance, music, attitudes toward work, and held a much more liberal political view than mainstream society.