A stratum of American and western European culture that began in the mid-1960s. Its adherents, mostly white, young, and middle class, adopted a lifestyle that embraced personal freedom while rejecting the ethics of capitalism, conformity, and repressive sexual mores. The mainstream media sometimes referred to members of the counterculture as "hippies," "freaks," or "flower children.
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The counterculture was no more a "culture" than the diverse antiwar movement was a "movement." Rather, the term was applied by social critics attempting to characterize the widespread rebellion of many western youths against the values and behaviors espoused by their parents. However, many young people adopted certain counterculture trappings, such as those involving music, fashion, slang, or recreational drugs, without necessarily abandoning their middle-class mores.
Various factors nurtured the counterculture, including the postwar growth of the American middle class (whose "materialism" the counterculture disdained), wide availability of "the pill" for reliable contraception (thus reducing one risk of sexual experimentation), the increasing popularity of hallucinogenic drugs like (which encouraged introspection and alienation from "straight" culture), and the (which convinced many young people that America had lost its soul).
The counterculture's deepest roots lay in the " " of the 1950s, a relatively small group of nonconformist intellectuals who chafed under the rigid orthodoxy of the era. Beat writers like Jack Kerouac, William S.
Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg espoused unconventional behavior and individual rebellion, often fueled by espresso, marijuana, and mescaline.
Just as New York City's became identified with the "beatniks," the Haight-Ashbury district of developed into a mecca for the counterculture. A poor area of the city, its cheap rentals attracted many who valued community over luxury.
In time the "Haight's" reputation drew still more youths curious about the emerging lifestyle. Some left the urban areas behind to form rural communes loosely modeled on utopian communities of the past, but few of these proved to be self-sustaining.
Gitlin, Todd.
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: Bantam Books, 1993.
Miller, Timothy.
The Hippies and American Values. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991.
In , counterculture is a term used to describe a whose values and norms of behavior run counter to those of the of the day, the cultural equivalent of .
Although distinct countercultural undercurrents exist in all societies, here the term counterculture refers to a more significant, visible phenomenon that reaches critical mass and persists for a period of time. A counterculture movement thus expresses the ethos, aspirations and In contemporary times, counterculture came to prominence in the news media as it was used to refer to the youth fragmentary form in the , both in Europe and the US, in the form of the Beat generation ( ), who typically sported beards, wore roll-neck sweaters, read the novels of Counterculture is generally used to describe a , , attitudinal or material position that does not conform to accepted societal norms. Yet, counterculture movements are often co-opted to spearhead commercial campaigns.
Thus once taboo ideas (men wearing a woman's color — pink, for example) sometimes become popular trends.
Though parallel movements existed elsewhere, the 1960s counterculture began in the United States as a reaction against the conservatism (and social repression) of the period, and the US government's extensive " " sensibilities of the late 1940s and 1950s.
In one view, the 1960s counterculture largely originated on college .
The 1964 at the , which had its roots in the of the American South, was one early example. At Berkeley a socially practices of the University and its corporate sponsors. However, other rebellious young people who had never been college students also contributed to counterculture development.
The café and bar scene was a in a psychedelic school bus named "Furthur." Beginning in 1959, Kesey had volunteered as a research subject for medical trials financed by the CIA's MK ULTRA project. These trials tested the effects of and other psychedelic drugs.
After the medical trials, Kesey continued experimening on his own, and involved many close friends; collectively they became known as "The Pranksters." The Pranksters visited Harvard LSD proponent at his , New York retreat, and experimentation with and other drugs, primarily as a means for internal reflection and personal growth, became a constant during the Prankster trip. The bus was driven by Beat icon for a time, and the Pranksters dropped in on Cassady's friend, Beat author , psychedelic scene.
After the Pranksters returned to California, they popularized the use of LSD at so-called "Acid Tests," which West Coast venues. Experimentation with LSD and other psychedelic drugs became a major component of 1960s counterculture, influencing philosophy, art, music and styles of dress.
As the 1960s progressed, widespread tensions developed in American society that tended to flow along generational lines regarding the war in Vietnam, race relations, sexual mores, women's rights, traditional modes of authority, experimentation with psychedelic drugs and a predominantly materialist interpretation of the American dream.
The became an increasingly high-profile object of criticism, and opposition to the war was exacerbated by the compulsory many as 75,000 young people from all over the world to celebrate San Francisco's " ." While the song had originally been written by of to promote the June, 1967 , it became an instant hit worldwide (#4 in the United States, #1 in Europe) and quickly transcended its original purpose. San Francisco's , also called " " by local newspaper columnist Herb Caen, adopted new styles of dress, experimented with psychedelic drugs, lived communally and developed a vibrant music scene.
When people returned home from "The Summer of Love" these styles and behaviors spread quickly from San Francisco and Berkeley to all major U.S. cities and European capitals.
A new kind of society.
The counterculture movement took hold in Western Europe, with London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Rome rivaling San Francisco and New York as counterculture centers. One manifestation of this was the general strike that took place in Paris in , which nearly toppled the French government.
In Eastern Europe, young people adopted the song "San Francisco" as an anthem for freedom, and it was widely played during repression.
As this newly emergent youth class began to criticize the established social order, new theories about cultural and personal identity began to spread, and traditional non-Western ideas – particularly with regard to religion, social organization and spiritual enlightenment – were more frequently embraced. A number of new had countercultural beginnings, including , and .
of youth. A quip from is often paraphrased these days; it goes: "If you are not a socialist at 20, you have no heart, if you are one at 40, you have no brain"—indicating the anti-conventionalism of During the period in question, new cultural forms emerged, including the pop music of , which rapidly evolved to shape and reflect the youth culture's emphasis on change and experimentation. This was accelerated after 1964, when the Beatles were introduced to in a New York hotel room by , another youth culture icon.
sprang up in most cities and college towns, serving to define and communicate the range of phenomena that defined the counterculture: radical political opposition to "the establishment," colorful experimental (and often explicitly drug-influenced) approaches to art, music and cinema, and uninhibited indulgence in sex and drugs as a symbol of freedom.
of influence but to aspects of personal life and to creativity.
communes to live as far outside of the established system as possible.
This aspect of the counterculture rejected active political engagement with the mainstream and, following the dictate of to "turn on, tune in, and drop out", hoped to change society by of it. Looking back on his own life (as a Harvard professor) prior to 1960, Leary interpreted it to have been that of "an anonymous martinis ..
.. like several million middle-class, liberal, intellectual robots.
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The hippie ethic posed a considerable impediment to the success of alternative movements growing within the counterculture. At the extremes, "doing one's own thing" could lead to rejection of values imposed from without and adamant avoidance of other people's expectations. As a result, the individual tends to be isolated, which may or may not be much of a problem for that individual – but it does threaten collaborative actions or accomplishments.
Musical and other performing groups formed within the counterculture. Many had a far shorter active existence than, say, the (a rather unusual example of countercultural longevity). Of course, ephemerality has long been the case in the performing arts, and a short lifespan does not in itself indicate failure.
Not all counterculture attempts to "think outside the box" or blaze new trails were restricted to art, music, literature and so on. The counterculture had representatives in the sciences, the trades, business, and law. Many counterculture participants were stable, dedicated, and persistent.
Much was done in the area of the human interface with the natural environment (in connection with science, technologies, community planning, parks, and other spheres). While ad hoc action groups sprang up frequently, usually fading away just as quickly, some established themselves as ongoing (NGOs) dedicated to working toward particular goals. The counterculture gave rise to many lasting NGOs.
Counterculture's environmentalist component was quick to grasp the early (i.e., 1970s) analyses of the reality and the import derivation would have implications for geo politics, lifestyle, environment, and other dimensions of the life of modern society.
Social anthropologist Jentri Anders, based in California, has observed that a number of freedoms were endorsed within a countercultural community which she lived in and studied: "freedom to explore one’s potential, freedom to create one’s Self, freedom of personal expression, freedom from scheduling, freedom from rigidly defined roles and hierarchical statuses…" Additionally, Anders believed these people wished to modify childrens' education so that it didn't discourage "aesthetic sense, love of nature, passion for music, desire for reflection, or strongly marked independence…"
emerged from within the West Coast counterculture. Roszak outlines the Apple computer's development, and the evolution of 'the developers) into businessmen. Like them, many early computing and networking pioneers – after discovering and roaming the campuses of UC Berkeley, Stanford, and MIT in the late 60s and early 70s – would emerge from this caste of social "misfits" to shape the modern world.
Like any culture, the 1960's counterculture produced its share of misfits. However, most people involved with the counterculture were not dedicated iconoclasts lacking qualities like loyalty or conscience. Most people engaged in conscious values and social norms of their (often middle-class) upbringings.
Then too, some individuals may not have identified with "the counterculture", despite the conclusions of outside observers. Perhaps some people who successfully achieved something in cooperation with others — or who, as '60s individualists were able to find a niche and pursue some career — never identified with the counterculture, or slowly distanced themselves from it.
In any case, as members of the movement grew older and moderated their lives and their views, and especially after all US involvement in the ground to a halt in the mid 70s, the counterculture was largely absorbed by the mainstream, leaving a lasting impact on philosophy, morality, music, art, lifestyle and fashion.
The legacy of the 1960s Counterculture is still actively contested in debates that are sometimes framed, in the U.S., in terms of a " .
" Jay Walljasper, a commentator and the editor of — though not himself from the so-called '60s Generation, and having grown up in American-Heartland farming country — has written, "From the great gyrations of the counterculture would come a movement dedicated to the greening of America. While many once-ardent advocates of radical ideas now live in the suburbs and vote Republican, others idealists."
Although not exactly equivalent to the English definition, the term "?
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" (Kontrkul'tura, "Counterculture") use of explicit language, graphical description of sex, violence and illicit activities and uncopyrighted use of "safe" characters involved in everything mentioned.
During the early 70's, Russian culture was forced into quite a rigid framework of constant optimistic approach to everything. Even mild topics, such as breaking marriage and alcohol abuse, tended to be viewed as taboo by the media.
In response, Russian society grew weary of the gap between real life and the creative world. Thus, the folklore and underground culture tended to be considered forbidden fruit. On the other hand, the general satisfaction with the quality of the existing works promoted parody, often within existing settings.
For example, the tradition turned into a grotesque world of sexual excess. Another well-known example is a that dealt exclusively with funny deaths and/or other mishaps of small innocent children.
In the mid-80s, the policy allowed the production of not-so-optimistic creative works.
As a consequence, Russian cinema during the late 80s to the early 90s was dominated by crime-packed action movies with explicit (but not necessarily graphic) scenes of ruthless violence and social dramas on drug abuse, prostitution and failing relations. Although Russian movies of the time would be rated R in the USA due to violence, the use of explicit language was much milder than in American cinema.
Russian counterculture as we know it emerged in the late 90s with the increased popularity of the internet.
Several web sites appeared that posted user-written short stories that dealt with sex, drugs and violence. Since stories were actually posted by editors, it's pretty clear what the characteristics of Russian counterculture were. The following features are considered most Generally, any content posted on a number of counterculture sites, like , or is considered counterculture, although some of the stories there have nothing to do with all of the above apart from being counterculture-inspired.
The interesting aspect is the influence of the contra-cultural developments on the Russian pop culture. In addition to traditional Russian styles of music like songs with jail-related lyrics, new music styles with explicit language were developed. In the recent past Dr.
, an Indian Theologian, has tried to redefine counterculture in the Asian context. In March 1990, at a seminar in Bangalore, he presented his countercultural perspectives (Chapter 4 in S. Kappen, Tradition Modernity Counterculture, Visthar, Bangalore, 1994).
Dr. Kappen envisages counterculture as a (1) invasion by western capitalist culture, and
(2) the emergence of revivalist movements.
Kappen writes, “Were we to succumb to the first, we should be losing our identity; if to the second, ours would be a false, Michael Bronski wrote "In the recent past, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people had almost no presence on television.
With the invention and propagation of such as , , , and , people outside the sexual mainstream now appear in living rooms across America almost every day of the week." . Despite such praise, tabloid talk shows had many critics including sociologist Vicki Abt who feared that tabloid talk shows were redefining social norms.
In her book Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV talk show, One of Winfrey's most taboo-breaking shows occurred in the 1980s where for the entire hour, members of the studio audience stood up one by one, gave their name and announced that they were gay. Also in the 1980s Winfrey took her show to West Virgina to confront a town gripped by AIDS paranoia because a gay man living in the town had HIV. Winfrey interviewed the man who had become a social outcast, the town's mayor who drained the swimming pool because the man had gone swimming, and debated the town's hostile residents.
"But I hear this is a God fearing town" Winfrey scolded the homophobic studio audience, "where's all that Christian love and understanding?" During a show on gay marriage in the 1990s, a woman in Winfrey's audience stood up to complain that gays were constantly flaunting their sex lives and she announced that she was tired of it. "You know what I'm tired of," replied Winfrey, "heterosexual males raping and sodomizing young girls.
That's what I'm tired of." Her rebuttal inspired a screaming standing ovation from that show's mostly gay studio audience.
By the end of the 1990s, most had gone extinct or in the case of Winfrey, had dramatically reinvented themselves to adapt to the changing market.
closet younger and younger, gay suicide rates had dropped, and gays were embraced on mainstream shows like , , and films like .
taboos, led to America's self-help obsession, and created confession culture. The Wall Street Journal coined the term Oprahfication which means public confession as a form of therapy.
In the early 2000s many political writers have coined a new term, "Conservative Counterculture," which describes a growing youth movement in both the Catholic and Evangelical churches in the United States. This is a group of American teens and young that more American teens are opposed to discrimination against religious people, , , and the silencing of for the sake of political correctness. The existence of a conservative youth counterculture is supported by the fact that a growing percentage of young people voted Republican in the 2000 and 2004 American elections, though a majority of Despite the emergence of a conservative counterculture in the early 2000s, a more liberal one seems to be coming into play as well.
With an increasing number of young people questioning the government's positions on the ongoing "War on Terror" and other important issues, a new counterculture is emerging.
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