Counter Culture Effects on Party Identification

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Recommended: Life during the 1960s

Introduction
In this paper I test whether the counter culture movement had an affect on party identification for young Americans between 1964-1972. I hypothesize that young Americans were more prone to became anti-war due to the counter culture movement; which correlates to a decrease in the amount of them that identify as Democrats. I believe there was a decrease in democratic representation among young Americans because the Democratic Party was in power during this time period. The emergence of this movement was due to many factors including: feminism, civil rights, war in Vietnam, and lack of trust in the government. The counter culture consisted mainly of new journalism, protests, drugs, and psychedelic rock. My hypothesis is proven true through the analysis of Jimi Hendrix's “Voodoo Child” and polls taken throughout this time period.
To test my hypothesis I am using the song “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” by Jimi Hendrix from 1968 and data from the American National Election Study from 1964, 1968, and 1972. This song is full of sensory overload, or rather dynamization; which correlates to the fight against war in Vietnam and in return the fight against Democrats. In the data, I am using Party Identification as the dependant variable, age as the independent variable, and polling the years 1964, 1968, 1972 separately to analyze the before, during, and after affects of the counter culture movement. I define young as ages 17 to 24 in this test.
Analysis of Jimi Hendrix’s "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" in 1968
I believe that the west coast psychedelic music, such as Jimi Hendrix’s "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" in 1968, played a huge part in the Counter Culture movement. This musical piece by Jimi Hendrix embodies the West Coas...

... middle of paper ...

... The polls also indicate a decreasing party affiliation of young Americans for the Democratic Party. Younger Americans decreased 7 percentage points more than older people, which is not a high number, but is still significant to demonstrate that the counter culture affect younger Americans more. It affected them more because they were more prone to joining protests, going to concerts, and doing drugs than the older population. Alternatively, other factor to consider in this test is that other events could have affected the results or that younger people were predisposed to react that way.

Works Cited

"ANES Cumulative File for Years 1964, 1968, and 1972." American National Election Study.
N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
.
“ Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, [Recorded by Jimi Hendrix]. MP3. 1968.

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