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In sociology, counterculture is a term used to describe a cultural group whose values and norms are at odds with those of the social mainstream. In practice, the term is most commonly used to refer to the youth rebellion that swept North America and Western Europe in the 1960s.
1960s counterculture
This movement was a reaction against the conservative social mores of the 1950s, the political conservativism (and perceived social repression) of the Cold War period, and the US government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam. Opposition to the war was exacerbated in the US by the compulsory military draft.
The 1960s youth rebellion largely originated on college campuses, emerging directly out of the American Civil Rights Movement. The Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley was one early example, as a socially privileged group of students began to identify themselves as having interests as a class that were at odds with the interests and practices of the university and its corporate sponsors.
As the sixties progressed, the Vietnam war became an increasingly high-profile object of criticism, and the sense of the younger generation as a class who wished to create a different society gained momentum. One manifestation of this was the general strike that took place in Paris in May of 1968, nearly toppling the French government.
As criticism of the established social order became more widespread among the newly emergent youth class, new theories about culture and personal identity began to spread, and old, non-western ideas--particularly with regard to religion, social organization and spirtual enlightenment--were also embraced.
New cultural forms that were perceived as opposed to the old emerged, including the pop music of the Beatles, which rapidly evolved to shape and reflect the youth culture's emphasis on change and experimentation. Underground newspapers 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 explicity drug-influenced) approaches to art, music and cinema, and uninhibited indulgence in sex and drugs as a symbol of freedom.
The most visible radical element of this counterculture were the hippies, some of whom formed communes to live as far outside of the established system as possible. This aspect of the movement rejected active political engagement with the mainstream and, following the dictate of Timothy Leary to "tune in, turn on and drop out", attempted to change society by dropping out of it.
As members of the hippie movement grew older and moderated their views, the 1960s counterculture was absorbed by the mainstream, leaving a lasting impact on morality, lifestyle and fashion, and a legacy that is still actively contested--debates that are sometimes framed in the US in terms of a "culture war".
See also
See earlier countercultural mainfestations
External link - International Counterculture Archive (http://home.gwu.edu/~yoffe/)
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