THE HIPPIES: A 1960S HISTORY BY JOHN The Hippies is a narrative of history that occurred in the 1960s. The society had been through the 1950s period that had ideas that deeply contrasted with the emerging group of youth who had come to societal awareness. As such, this created an upset in the society and led to the formation of hippie movement who more or less began reforming the community with their own set of views. The book documents these activities with an analysis of the campaigns and events that occurred in this period. Alienation of the white youth The 1960s was a period where most of the society was influenced by different radical restrictions of the law and other policies that surrounded the environment during that time. The government was dominant in shaping its policies which bordered on different extreme circumstances. The United States was involved in the Vietnam War and this created discomfort within the youth of the time. The white American youth deemed propagation of violence as an anti-social norm that the country had decided to indulge in. There was also a particular distrust of the government system. Reasonably, this furthered the alienation of the youth from the societal norms that pre-existed. In addition to the distrust, the white youth also had the view that the traditional modes of authority were inappropriate for the present society that the youth had grown into. They argued that politics misrepresented the values that the society should adopt. They insisted that politics was a game played by conventional adults. Drawing to this was the insistence that permanent civil and legal organizations were the cornerstone of ‘establishment’ culture which they fiercely rejected. They purported that the agencies were too materialistic and offered an immoral concept that was being hammered and forced down on the society. It was during this time that segregation of minority groups was a norm. African Americans and Hispanics were facing a lot of discrimination and violence against them. This angered the hippies. They were of the opinion that racial segregation was a cruel societal practice that eroded on the morality of peace in the society. They regarded the treatment of African Americans by the
The 1960’s presented Hippies with the chance to express their beliefs and attitudes in a number of diverse
The second half of the 1960’s seen another upsurge of young adults; a subgroup opposed to the fundamental thoughts of others and their social and economic supports; mainly because they believed that dominant mainstream culture was crooked and flawed; and needed to believe as they did in a way(s) of life geared to protect something they could not earn, buy, or passed on. The something philosophy is compromised in a complex egotism based on criminality; with an ulterior (self-preservation) motive of exacting some form of Utopia for it and with others relative to its concept. These groups of tie dyed conformists are anti-establishment and commonly known as hippies. They first gained a reputation in the U.S and then England, and are the extent
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 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.
The 1960’s experience multiple social revolutions throughout the decade, whether it be the New Left, Civil Rights Movement, Anti-War Movement and the Hippie Revolution. Many of the movements were focused on many different political issues in society and were solely focused on resolving the issue; however, the Hippie Revolution did not. They were different from the New Left. While in Port Huron Statement (Document B), the term New Left is coined and they pleaded that they would do everything in their power to permeate society and reform the issues needed to be reform. The Hippie Revolution was primarily uninspired youth who were only worried with pleasuring themselves through recreational sex, peace, and love, rather actively participating
The 1960s was crammed full of many impacting events and important figures. From Hitchcock releasing one of the greatest thrillers of all time, Psycho, to Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death, to the infamous Woodstock festival. This era changed history completely and made the United States think twice about its youth. Events of the 1960s are still impacting our country as we know it today. The sudden pull from the conservative ‘50s changed America’s views on all aspects of life, including fashion, entertainment, and lifestyles.
The whole hippie culture all together was totally against social norms, what society wanted to see, how everyone else lived, and what they believed in. The hippie culture’s main moto was “make love, not war”. They were strongly against war and the Vietnam War, which was going on during the same time the hippie culture was popular. They thought that everyone should have acceptance of the universe. They wanted to see change in the world, global
The Sixties, by Terry H. Anderson, takes the reader on a journey through one of the most turbulent decades in American life. Beginning with the crew-cut conformity of 1950s Cold War culture and ending with the transition into the uneasy '70s, Anderson notes the rise of an idealistic generation of baby boomers, widespread social activism, and revolutionary counterculture. Anderson explores the rapidly shifting mood of the country with the optimism during the Kennedy years, the liberal advances of Johnson's "Great Society," and the growing conflict over Vietnam that nearly tore America apart. The book also navigates through different themes regarding the decade's different currents of social change; including the anti-war movement, the civil
The 1960s Hippie movement was a major point in the American history. In the 1960s a certain class of young people associated their lifestyles with the ideas of freedom, peace, and love. Hippies acted against white upper middle class lifestyle because they thought it was based on the wrong ideology. Hippies were against consumerism and American suburban life of the late 1950s and early 1960s was embodied in itself the idea of consumerism. Hippies, on the other hand, felt better about communal life with equal distribution of social goods. Traditional “bigger share” and consumerist greed as concepts of American society were despised by Hippies.
The sixties seemed to challenge basic American assumptions; the value of hard work and of traditional family values. “Middle” America formed 55% of the population, earning between $5000 and $15000 p.a. They lived between the city slums and the affluent suburbs, and were usually up to their eyes in debt. They wanted the law to protect them and their property. They believed in good manners, in respect for authority and the flag. The changes of the sixties left many of them confused and angry. They were not sure who to blame for social unrest. They were the silent minority that Nixon appealed to in his election campaign, and they helped him to victory. They were the resentment and reaction byproduct of social unrest. They worked to ensure their property and found it unfair that the government gave money to the people that did not work as much as they did. They wanted law and order. They wanted a state that provided security, response to the insecurity they felt in face of the students movement and the liberal culture. They felt ignored by the democrat government because they did not benefit from the financial help, house and health security.
Hippies strayed from being a part of the conventional American ways and participated in anti-Vietnam protests, “the concept of free love [...] [and] communal living” (Marshall). Hippies travelled from all across the country to attend this event that can be categorized, “like a perfect storm - the perfect time in the counter-culture movement, the perfect venue, the perfect buzz, the perfect innocence/naivete.” The ideals of the counterculture were captured in this rock concert
The people that would become associated with the new teenage counter-culture movement were known as the hippies. The movement began in the mid-sixties in the United States. The hippies often believed in peace and pleasure. They even ushered in a new music genre of psychedelic rock. The Grateful Dead as well as the Beatles was famous artists coming from the movement and genre. The hippies created their own communities where they criticized the mainstream society and middle class. One thing they revolutionized was sex. The sexual revolution moved from traditional ways of behaving to more promiscuous activities and pleasures. The norms of American sexual culture would change greatly. Hippies were promoters of free love in the sexual revolution. They taught that the power of sex and love should be a part of everyday teenage life. In some colleges, they started to make dorms coed; in which the males and females could come together freely. “A
‘The hippie movement germinated in San Francisco, with the Vietnam War at its core. The movement eventually spread to the East Coast as well, centralized in New York's East Village in addition to the Haight-Asbury district of San Francisco and Sunset Strip of Los Angeles” (Buchholz 858). Many hippies were angry over the conformist lifestyle that Americans were living in, and wanted to live how they wanted to live not how their employer or television wanted them to live. Hippies also took a political
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.
Comprising of mostly of white teenagers and young adults that are between the ages of 15 and 25 years old, hippies inherited a practice of cultural dissent from bohemians as well as the ‘beatniks’ of the Beat Generation during the late 1950s. Beats such as “Allen Ginsberg” crossed-over from the beat movement and became fixtures of the burgeoning hippie and anti-war movements. By 1965, hippies and had become a recognized social group in the U.S.and the movement finally expanded to the other countries. Hippies were peacekeepers and partook in non-violent political demonstrations, such as the civil rights marches, the marches on Washington D.C, and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. In addition to non-violent political demonstrations, hippie opposition to the Vietnam War included establishing political actions groups to compete with the war, refusal to serve in the military and creating awareness on college campuses that covered Vietnamese history and the larger political situation of the war.