The 1960’s are characterized by the a social movement which was called Counterculture and had a great influence on the historical, political and social events in the USA, as well as in the whole world, “the 1960’s brought revolution to American society – in the arts, technology and human understanding” (Welcome to the ’60s 1).
In this paper, we are going to discuss how the Countercultural movement of the 60’s influenced on the people’s lifestyle and provide an argument that in had a positive influence on the development of modern society and youth culture.
In the 1960’s young people of America began reappraising old values, materialistic and cultural norms. They created an alternative lifestyle named counterculture. A new movement faced new issues and ideas, such as civil rights, nuclear threat, Vietnam War, environmental protection, drug use and woman rights, “the years were marked by gay rights, and civil rights and women’s rights and outcry and disillusionment” (Welcome to the ’60s 1).
The main moving forces of the Counterculture movement were the pursuit of peace, love and freedom. People felt freely, there were new visions on religion, child care family relations, etc. People felt more free and independent. As Joelle Fraser writers in her memoirs From the Territory of Men when speaking about her parents, “They made jokes about their lifestyle, how it was like the title from Hemingway’s book A Movable Feast.
Almost every night they drank, and in the morning woke to friends passed out on their floor” (203). She also says that both of her parents were dreamers, as all the young people of America in 1960’s. Many individuals tried to “find peace” using drugs, others referred to meditation practice and mysticism. The perception of the world has changed. This era and its principles promoted providing new legacies in the social structure. These legacies had a long lasting positive effect on Americans’ lives and its traces can be seen in modern society.
A new culture contributed to considerable changes in the modern American culture and lifestyle, as well as had great influence on the word outside America. As it has already mentioned, the attitude to the family and gender relations changed. A legacy of on the American family can be seen in the modern society, “American society is more open now and could be described as being more flexible because, for example, there are now many more definitions of family” (Carter n. p.).
The two-parent nuclear family is not the “axis of society”, one-parent families and extended families are normal for the word society. Moreover, the adoption of children became a norm and they are “treated the same as biological children in today’s society” (Carter n. p.). The attitude to women’s rights was also changed. Many women began working and today women are parts of the “work force”. Moreover, the feminist movement of the 1960’s promoted the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
As Carted mentions, woman gained the right to control their bodies. Today, the commercials of the birth control pills are common in the modern society and sex education in schools is part of the educational program. The countercultural movement promoted the creation of Health Care programs. Such program as Medicare and Medicaid created in 60’s “helped many Americans gain access to necessary healthcare” (Carter n. p.). The program is still function and addressing the educational and nutrition need of people.
However, despite of all positive outcomes of the legacy of the 1960’s, there is certain negative impact on the society can be observed. For example, the development of the drug culture and the problem of alcoholism in the modern society take its roots in the 60’s. There are still problems of the racial and class differences in the modern society.
The Counterculture movement had also a great impact on the development of contemporary youth culture. As a matter of fact, young people were the axis of the movement. Fraser describes her parents as the participants of the social changes: they contributed to changes and who were influenced by them:
“And there was this sense of promise that was inspired partly by their youth, but also by something beyond them, a fiery optimism that surrounded them in California in the sixties…” (204).
Many modern youth cultures were adopted from the 60’s, such as emo, rock and pop cultures. The cultural ideologies of the past, has “travelled” into lives of modern young people. Among them are experiments with drugs, various music festival that are extremely popular nowadays, travelling and anti-war movements. This can be considered as a positive influence as well, as it gives to young Americans the opportunity to explore the world and expand their intellectual horizons.
Thus, we can come to a conclusion that the Counterculture movement had provoked great changes in the American society. The way people saw the better world changed that led to considerable social and cultural changes. Moreover, we can still see the “traces of the past” in our modern life. Generally, the influence of the counterculture was positive as it promoted freedom and peace. However, there was a negative impact as well, such as alcohol abuse and drug consumption.
Works Cited
Carter, Tracey. “The Legacy of the 1960s in America”. 2010. Web.
Fraser, Joelle. “The Territory of Men: A Memoir” from The counterculture reader. Ed. Elizabeth A. Swingrover. Pearson/Longman, 2004.
“Welcome to the ’60s.” Read 53 6.2. (2003). Web.