CH.23-An Era of Social Change

The Counterculture and Continuing Social Movements

Learning Objectives: CH23: Section 3 - Culture and Counterculture

• 1. Describe the flowering and decline of the counterculture in the 1960s.

• 2. Summarize the impact of the counterculture on art, fashion, music, and attitudes.

• 3. Explain the conservative response to the counterculture.

The Counterculture of the 1960’s• Counterculture was a movement made up of

mostly white, middle-class college young people who were disillusioned with the war and injustices of society

• They turned their backs on traditional American and founded a society based on peace and love

• Hippies

Hippie Culture• The Age of Aquarius• Rock ’n’ Roll Music• Sexual Revolution (Free Love)• Marijuana and LSD ( Illegal Drugs)• Eastern Religions (Zen Buddhism)• Ragged Jeans, Tie-dye shirts, military garments,

love beads and muslin shirts• Long hair and beards• Many joined communes• Haight-Asbury District of SF

Guided Reading:

1. Members or participants:

Idealistic or disillusioned young people; white, middle-class youths; hippies; people experimenting with drugs; followers of Eastern religions

• Materialism, Technology, and war were hollow

• Harvard Psychology and counterculture philosopher Dr. Timothy Leary urged the youth to “Tune in, Turn On, Drop Out!”

• Many left home, work, and school to create an ideal community of peace love and harmony

Guided Reading:

2. Beliefs about American society:

It had grown hollow, materialistic, cold, and cruel;

it was best to "tune in, turn on, drop out"

Guided Reading:

3. Goals for society and for themselves:

An idyllic setting of peace, love, and harmony --- the Age of Aquarius;

greater self-awareness and inner peace;

living together in communes and renouncing private property

Guided Reading:

4. Movement Centers:

San Francisco's Haight Ashbury

Guided Reading:

5. Attitudes and Activities: Listening to and playing rock 'n' roll music; wearing outrageous clothing; using drugs; living in communes; attending concerts; casualness and individuality ---“do your own thing”

Guided Reading:

6. Violent episodes:

urban communes became dangerous;

the deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix from drug overdoses

Art of the 1960’s• Pop-Art by Andy Warhol

                                                                                                              

Guided Reading:

7. Impact on art and fashion Art and fashion:

A rebellious style of pop art and a more consumer-oriented mass art

Music of the 1960’s• The music was a form of protest that grew out of

African-American rhythm and blues of the 1950’s (Folk and Rock)

• The Beatles, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and the Rolling Stones

• In 1969 the appex of the counterculture was the music festival Woodstock

• The 1970 Concert at Altamont Speedway was a disaster and ended the era of peace and love

Guided Reading:

8. Impact on Music:

The widespread popularity and growth of rock;

the popularity of the Beatles;

the Woodstock music festival

The Conservative Response• Nixon, Agnew and J Edgar

Hoover expressed anger and concern over the counterculture and the threat to traditional values

• Many saw the values as decadent, un-American, immature and irresponsible

• Conservatives presented their own solutions to crime and lawlessness

Guided Reading:

9. Impact on mainstream America:

A more casual approach to sexual and social behavior;

the sexual revolution;

a conservative backlash;

Nixon's election