Culture and Counterculture

The Main Idea

The counterculture that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s left a lasting impact on American life.

Reading Focus

• What led to the rise of the counterculture?

• What was life like in the counterculture?

• How did mainstream American society react to the counterculture?

• What legacy did the counterculture leave behind?

The Rise of the Counterculture

• The counterculture of the 1960s was a rebellion of teens and young adults against mainstream American society.

• Young Americans believed that society’s values were hollow and its priorities were misplaced.

• They called the mainstream the Establishment.

• They wanted to create an alternative culture based on peace and love.

Where did the counterculture come from?

The number of teens and young adults in the United States rose dramatically in the 1960s.

These young people were living in turbulent times: threat of nuclear war, racial discrimination and segregation, the Vietnam War, and environmental pollution.

Rising Student Activism

• Students on college campuses began rebelling against school policies they considered restrictive, unjust, or not relevant.

• At the University of California at Berkeley students protested when school officials banned speech making and political organizing at the entrances to the campus.

• The events at Berkeley marked the beginning of the Free Speech Movement, which swept campuses across the nation.

• Mainstream Americans were shocked as they expected young people not to question authority.

Counterculture

• Thousands of teens and young adults left school, jobs, and traditional home life.

• Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco was a famous center for the 1960s counterculture

• Hippie Culture

Rejected materialism and the work ethic of the older generation

Eastern religions, astrology, the occult, and illegal drugs

The goal of most hippies was to find freedom and spiritual enlightenment

Height of hippie movement was summer of 1967 (Summer of Love)

The hippie lifestyle offered a pleasant alternative to social concerns such as racism, sexism, and conflicts over the war in Vietnam

Life in the counterculture

Mainstream Reactions to the Counterculture

Some observers of the counterculture were put off by the unkempt appearance of hippies.

On a deeper level, many mainstream Americans objected to the unconventional values of the counterculture.

They saw hippies as disrespectful, uncivilized, and threatening.

To many in the Establishment, it appeared that society was unraveling.

The television show All in the Family reflected American society in that it illustrated that mainstream America did not embrace counterculture

Attitudes

• The 1960s counterculture had the most lasting impact on attitudes towards lifestyles and social behavior, art and music.

• Attitudes about sexual behavior loosened.

• People explored topics that were once taboo.

Art and Film

• New style called pop art emerged.

• Andy Warhol led the pop art movement.

• Film broadened its subject matter as censorship rules relaxed.

Legacy of the Counterculture

Music

• The Beatles brought new techniques and ideas to rock and roll.

• Bob Dylan wrote political songs and became the spokesperson for his generation.

• Woodstock Music and Art Fair was considered among the most important events of the counterculture movement