The Hippie Counterculture

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The hippie counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s was a peace and love movement that had a dramatic impacts on American politics and young people around our country. Those included in this movement were blind to judgement and open to experimentation with new clothing styles, drugs, sex, and many other things. “The counterculture started as a youth movement and their ideas on all things political, social, cultural and every day values were much different then what American citizens had ever seen before. (Stockton, 1.)” The term “hippy” probably originated from the Beats of the 1950s. The Beats or Beat Generation was a social movement alienating themselves from traditional society; wearing an unconventional form of dress and being pacifists upon …show more content…
Bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Grateful Dead encouraged rebellious behavior and the straying away/unconformity from social norms, although the Grateful Dead was the main music of this time, founded in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Sylvan) The reason the Grateful Dead was seemingly successful in such a short amount of time was the sheer fact that they promoted a sense of community among “Deadheads,” their fans. The Grateful Dead donated the money they made to the community, providing music, things to eat, and places to stay in the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco. …show more content…
Earlier political leftist movements aimed towards labour activism, which targeted better working conditions and a more diverse (gender and racial) work force. As stated before, part of the New Left Movement was the appraisal of anarchy by individuals of the younger generation. This movement disallowed current and traditional political organization and transformed political views around the United States and the world. In more exact terms, the New Left Movement recognized discrimination-based oppression, vastly including discrimination against skin color and females. (Britannica) This was also around the time of the Civil Rights Movement. The ‘60s was a time of immense reform against previous social norms of oppression and racism. Some people like to think that this was due to the way that hallucinogens and open experimentation opened minds and gave a whole new view on the way the world
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