The 1970s Daze The 1970s, a time of music, bell bottoms and drugs. The counterculture of the 1960s was spilling over into the 70s and drugs were becoming more prominent than ever. Young people, especially, were turning towards drugs at massive rates. With drug usage increasing so did crime, death rates, and violence. In 1971 K D Charalampous wrote in the American Journal of Public Health that “For the age group 15 to 35, drug abuse is now the leading cause of death” (1226). Drugs were taking the country by storm and affecting millions of households. One household that it effected was my mother’s, Martha Wolfenden’s. Up until the turbulent time of the 1970s she lived a somewhat normal, middle class suburban life. However, this all changed …show more content…
To combat the growing issue of drug prevalence the government began to take on a more active role in drug enforcement and drug abuse prevention. Nixon tried to appeal to the younger audience who were being surrounded by the drug culture through the media, advertisements, and music by recruiting celebrities such as Elvis to help send the message that drug abuse is not acceptable. This ultimately failed because many of theses celebrities that were being asked to promote drug free living were still using drugs. Elvis, himself, died seven years later, after being recruited by Nixon of a drug overdose. One web article explains that “Before the 1970s, drug abuse was seen by policymakers primarily as a social disease that could be addressed with treatment. After the 1970s, drug abuse was seen by policymakers primarily as a law enforcement problem that could be addressed with aggressive criminal justice policies” (Steinberg). Even with this new strategy drugs still prevailed in many communities and the drug culture was still strong. President Nixon’s attempt to stop the drug issue in the country ultimately failed because of the size and strength of the drug culture, the lack of support from the public, and the media, which often times pegged drug as the trendy and cool new thing for young people to
culture” of 1960s can be aptly described as a counterculture; one who’s whose values and norms of behavior differed substantially from those of mainstream society. The 1950s was an era bred in conformity; uniform suburban housing coupled with unrivaled economic prosperity all led to this emphasis on wholesome American family values. Outside of the sexual appeal of Marilyn Monroe and perhaps the flamboyancy of Little Richard, there were few cultural challenges to the norm. Enter the 1960s: images of
In my opinion, the most influential time period in American history since 1945 would have to be the 1960s. So much was going on in America during this time period. Such as the civil rights movement, the counterculture, the war and so much more. I am going to focus on the counterculture because I think that out of all of the commotion that was going on in the 1960s, the counterculture has the most lasting affects and the most came out of it that we still have in our society today. They shaped
By the 1960s, the front wave of post-WWII baby-boomers reached their early to late teen years and became more visible and vocal in society. At this time, these baby-boomers started to reject some of the values and norms that were upheld by the previous generations. This became known as the counterculture movement, as young people bluntly expressed values and beliefs which are opposite of societal norms. They wanted to set themselves apart from the conventional suburban culture their parents were
The counterculture movement in 1960s influenced people to go against the norm of mainstream society. This movement changed people’s political, race and morality views. The counterculture movement brought along the Anti-war Movement against Vietnam and also some different views about the Civil Rights Movement. The Vietnam War was said to be fought to stop the spread of Communism, although they were fighting for a good cause America had very little support in their fight. The vast number of Americans
A counterculture is a way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or at variance with prevailing social norms according to Google definitions. A counterculture movement is when these social norms are changing or start to change. Things have to happen within that culture or society that people oppose and start to show that opposition to what is going on within their society. These people want to change their lifestyle from what it has been for many generations, or the norm. There have been many counterculture
The 1960s Counterculture refers to the period where the norms of traditional America and previous generations were rejected by the youth of the baby boom. I believe the Counterculture serves as a turning point for America because it was this movement that put a gap between old traditions of previous generations and brought about new ideas and ways of living for the youth. The Counterculture youth, who claimed the title “Hippies,” rejected the cultural standards of their parents, especially when
The 1960 and 70s were a time of controversy in many aspects of the world including the ongoing movements including the Vietnam War and Civil Rights movement. These incidents along with others are what began to affect the American baby-boomer generation of the time; their exposure to new concepts in college classes had them questioning what they were being taught and exploring their freedom. College became a way for individuals to escape conformity and provided a forum to openly discuss topics including
account of the mastermind behind all the killings, Charles Manson. Few historians choose to neglect the part that the counterculture present in 1960s Los Angeles, plays in the formation of the cult. In essence, the counterculture characteristics, such as the culture in which young girls were impressionable, use of drugs, and musical influence are influential highlights that makes 1960s Los Angeles, CA, the perfect scenario for the Manson cult creation. The Baby Boom is the huge demographic increase
How Rock music shaped the American counterculture and the anti-Vietnam movement of the 1960s and 1970s Introduction: Throughout my time reading and researching documents, I have discovered that the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s where largely influenced by music. The music that largely impacted this counterculture and anti-Vietnam movement was mainly rock music. The following primary sources are a way to almost “go back” to the 1960s and experience the emotion put into music about The Vietnam
The 1960s counterculture was a cultural sensation which first began to take shape in the United States and from there on it spread throughout the rest of the west. It spread sometime in the early sixties to early seventies. The counterculture sensation began to catch on quickly and it eventually went on to become groundbreaking. Several components contributed in making the counterculture of the 1960s a unique era from the other opposition movements of the previous eras. The post-war baby boom created
some serious offenses. However, it was the counterculture of the 1960s that nurtured his psychopathic side luring distraught young women into the influence of the cult leader. According to Moore, “counter culture or contra culture is a practice or activity, usually of a group or a network of people, in which the values expressed by the participants are inherently critical of or out of line with the dominant or mainstream” (742). The counterculture of the 1960s is believed to originate from the post-war
women. In addition, war was breaking out in Vietnam for the American people. The Counterculture era brought out a new way of life for many young adults. People began rejecting the normal means of society and breaking away from the standard way of life. There were many important events and interesting tactics brought out in the Counterculture Movement that allowed America to see a new side of its people. The Counterculture movement was an alternate way of living for many American citizens. People began
During the 1960s, people used music as a way to protest against all kinds of issues. Music does this job well because it can express things that words cannot. The protest music of the 1960s can be considered a counterculture because it was a period where individuals used music to protest against the social norms as well as other pertaining issues of the day such as war and civil rights. As music has changed over time, modern protest music can be considered to be an extension of the 1960s counterculture
and the Counterculture, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. Imagination and individuality are associated with the term. Henry David Thoreau who was a leading philosopher and poet was a leading transcendentalist. He compiled a novel titled Walden, a non-fiction depicting his stay at Walden Pond where he truly explored nature and his transcendental quality. Similar to Thoreau, the Counterculture was a non-conformist
Revolution of Music Music has continued to change throughout each decade, but the 1960s was the most influential decade in the history of music. Starting in the early 1950s, rock music was first introduced. Major record labels were releasing new “cover songs” which were originally made by black artist, but now by white artist (Rock and Roll). These cover songs changed a few lyrics from the original songs to avoid copyright issues and to also make the song more appropriate for the white listeners