Countercultures: The Beat Generation

843 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of censorship

In every generation there are countercultures, some more prominent and influential than others that go against social norms. Jack Kerouac brought to light the counterculture known as The Beat Generation from under the veil of the conservative surface in the 1950’s, in his book On the Road. This generation was so influential that they were the driving force behind the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 60’s and 70’s. Having strong ideas and values about freedom and personal fulfillment, that they perused relentlessly, they created big changes and even inspired generations after them who feel dissatisfied with the pressures to conform to instead push against the norms of society. A counterculture as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “a culture with values and morals that run counter to those of established society”. Countercultures arise mostly among younger generations who are just starting to develop their own sense of individuality and those who are discontent with the cultural standards of the time, thus they adopt an alternative lifestyle that reflects their own values and beliefs. Some movements may be problematic promoting excessive drug use and destructive behavior while others serve to promote a usually positive change that expresses the morals and aspirations of a specific population at a given …show more content…

The counterculture in their rebellion to settle down had a good idea behind it, that finding someone that early in life and perusing a long-term relationship would really do more harm than anything by restricting both parties ability to grow and develop as individuals. The Beat generation were passionate, diligent and extraordinarily hungry human beings in their zeal for existentialism, finding themselves and the meaning of life through personal responsibility and free

Show More
Related

  • Nicole Hogue World's Most Dangerous Gang

    1913 Words  | 4 Pages

    Counterculture (Pg. 48)- a group whose values, beliefs, norms, and related behaviors place its members in opposition to the broader culture

    Read More

  • Causes of the Counter-Culture

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the 1950’s rolled along and the 1960’s came into effect, the world was thrown into a topspin that would soon define every generation of youths. As the trends changed and the music got more complex a deeper metamorphosis was taking place inside every city and every person. To develop a counterculture in the 1960’s there had to be new ideas circulating that were counter-norm. These ideas were not developed right away for any one reason, though. Just like the times, the causes for this counter-culture were far more complex than anyone had seen before in the 20th century. Some could say it was because of a civil rights call or say it was because of the drugs, but I just don’t know if anyone could really pin it to one key cause.

    Read More

  • The Impact of the Hippie on American Society

    2364 Words  | 5 Pages

    American society and culture experienced an awakening during the 1960s as a result of the diverse civil rights, economic, and political issues it was faced with. At the center of this revolution was the American hippie, the most peculiar and highly influential figure of the time period. Hippies were vital to the American counterculture, fueling a movement to expand awareness and stretch accepted values. The hippies’ solutions to the problems of institutionalized American society were to either participate in mass protests with their alternative lifestyles and radical beliefs or drop out of society completely.

    Read More

  • Fifties Society Summary

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the outside, the 1950’s was a great time for America. Society revolved around the idea of America being a middle-class nation. Americans worshipped conformity, and materialism satisfied the need to conform. However, the prosperity of materialistic America hid the growing, numerous problems. Dissent in any way was not tolerated; all injustice was stifled by a fear of difference. In “Fifties Society,” Alan Brinkley discusses the truth of the era; that the fear of nonconformity was hidden by the seemingly prosperous middle-class nation. Brinkley argues the Beat movement and “feminine mystique” show that the people who did not fit in reveal the true colors of 1950’s society.

    Read More

  • Counterculture is a Fraud

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    For nearly half of a century, fragments of our society have continually made outward attempts to create and popularize movements that try to ‘go against’, ‘take over’ or ‘change’ popular culture; in even more far-fetched examples, ‘change’ society as a whole. This idea, as referred to by Roszak in the 1960’s, is commonly known as “counterculture”. A counterculture movement takes one or multiple social norms from established culture that it is in opposition to, and fights said norms. This idea of “culture jamming”, a term coined by the San Franciso area band Negativland, is built on a hope that a counterculture movement can reshape the norms it tries to destroy, into ones which suit its’ needs and ideologies. In the vast majority of cases, the objective of counterculture has not even remotely been reached; in fact, most attempts have failed miserably, unable to attract even the most minute amount of noteworthy attention or following.

    Read More

  • The Counterculture

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the sixties, Americans saw the rise of the counterculture. The counterculture, which was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, was embraced by the decade’s young Americans. Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and freer country. One of the most powerful counterculture movements in the sixties was the civil rights movement.

    Read More

  • President Kennedy 's Foreign Policy Decisions Shaped By Cold War Ideology

    1969 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...atic control, specifically found in educational and work settings, which repressed one’s individual and cultural freedoms. Counterculture also embraced new religious and spiritual “…creativity and experimentation” (Foner 993), in an effort for one to find their personal authenticity. Some even gained interest in eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, and chose to meditate or partake in yoga, which eventually found popularity in mainstream America as well. Overall, counterculture aimed to create a new American lifestyle, which embraced all cultural freedoms with the aim of revamping the norm of values and behaviors in the United States. The movement had a focus on freedoms pertaining to personal choices in lifestyle such as sexual behavior, clothing choices, and religion, with a specific emphasis on freedom from bureaucracy and wealth-obsessed organizations.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Conformity In The 1950's

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone got a job to buy a home and buy other assets to their name (see Fig 1); women wore the same styled dresses with similar if not identical hairstyles, men wore crispy-ironed shirts and slacks, and were clean-shaven. America had become a form of utopia for American citizens who all looked identical and with the same endeavors in mind. This is why the 1950’s is also sometimes referred to as the “age of conformity.” However, as presented in the documentary The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation in 1944 three individuals, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs’s, and Allen Ginsberg, would come together and their conversations would lead to a social movement. Dalton describes a subculture as, “groups united by sets of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meaning specific to the members of that group.” (85) The Beats fall into this subculture category, as they all shared similar values when it came to the mainstream values that were in place during that time. Their perspectives on society were very negative as they felt as though something was missing, as though the societal conformity of the 50’s was not enough. They were tired of the social norms or, “beat” which is where the term “Beats” originated. As Kerouac once wrote, “It’s being beat and down on the world.” (The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation) The Beats expressed their beliefs through the way they dressed, which

    Read More

  • Lunatics Taking Over the Asylum: Cultural Chaos in 1960s America

    7167 Words  | 15 Pages

    Firstly, the group of friends and writers most commonly known as the Beats evolved dramatically in focal points such as Greenwich Village and Columbia University, and subsequently spread their political and cultural views to a wider audience. The three Beat figureheads William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac each perceived an agenda within American society to clamp down on those who were in some way different from the accepted ‘norm’, and in response deliberately flirted with the un-American practices of Buddhism, drug use, homosexuality and the avant-garde. Ginsberg courted danger by lending a voice to the homosexual subculture that had been marginalised by repressive social traditions and cultural patterns within the United States.

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Woodstock On The Counter Culture

    360 Words  | 1 Pages

    Woodstock had many effects on the counter culture around it. Some historic events covered in this paper include the Stonewall riots, the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon, and the murders of the Manson family. The outbursts of emotion coming from the public started to die down and disintegrate after the festival. Many said this mutism was a result of Woodstock coming to an end. Of course they didn’t call Woodstock “3 Days of Peace and Music” for nothing.

    Read More

  • Woodstock Counterculture

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hippies, also known as the counterculture, were longhaired people who wore bright colors and held up peace signs. The counterculture came to be in the early 1960s. They lived mostly in hippie districts located in San Francisco, New York City, and Old Town Chicago. Gardens, head shops, and music

    Read More

  • Woodstock: The Rise of the Counter Culture

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    Along with the peak of several movements music began to reach a point of climax. Rock specifically began to flourish in the 1960’s, while expressing the voice of the liberated generation. It is the power of such trends that overall lead to what is known as the greatest music festival of all time: Woodstock Music and Art Fair. The festival started on August 15, 1969 on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. Appealing to the time period, Woodstock was designed to be Three Days of Peace and Music. However, many argue that it was more than just a musical art fair of peace, but a historically significant event that shifted American culture. While some regard Woodstock as the beginning of a cultural advancement and the end of a naïve era, others view it as ridiculous hippy festival infested with illegal drug usage. Woodstock cost over $2.4 million and attracted over 450,000 people (Tiber, 1). Despite the debate of whether Woodstock produced a positive or negative effect, it is clear that a note worthy impact was made. When discussing the overall impact of Woodstock it is important to look at the influences and creative plan and the positive and negative effects produced from the festival.

    Read More

  • The Hippie Counterculture

    2095 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Hippie Movement changed the politics and the culture in America in the 1960s. When the nineteen fifties turned into the nineteen sixties, not much had changed, people were still extremely patriotic, the society of America seemed to work together, and the youth of America did not have much to worry about, except for how fast their car went or what kind of outfit they should wear to the Prom. After 1963, things started to slowly change in how America viewed its politics, culture, and social beliefs, and the group that was in charge of this change seemed to be the youth of America. The Civil Rights Movement, President Kennedy’s death, new music, the birth control pill, the growing illegal drug market, and the Vietnam War seemed to blend together to form a new counterculture in America, the hippie.

    Read More

  • The Beat Generation

    2378 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Beat Generation Quickly became known by their very aggressive way of writing. Their writing included from what people from the American society thought to be disrespectful and offensive type of writing, where they included Sex, drugs, race, and Rock n Roll in every one of their writings. They did this to simply make a statement. A statement that suggests that they do not care who they offend, they did this to tell their side of the story on how they thought postwar society had turned into, and how they wanted to rebel in regards of how the American culture turned into because of it. They loved that all of their works were involved with drugs, sex, and music because they were fascinated with it all (Sterritt, 2) and once some of their works came out everyone immediately knew who they were. This is what was known as a rebirth of a new world that influenced the twentieth century in a way that no one will ever forget.

    Read More

  • Art, Literature And Society From 1955-1970

    5815 Words  | 12 Pages

    The Beats, hippies, and punks are evidence that behind the white picket fence of suburbia lay an America that wanted more out of life than the sugar coated portrayals of domesticity and patriotism it received from pop culture. The unfortunate side of authenticity often lead to the conclusion that autonomy was an impossible dream and that just mere existence required an individual to compromise his integrity. The post-war generation developed an interesting love-hate relationship with the mass culture of it’s time. Some, like Andy Warhol, embraced the inevitability of mass culturalization in order to control the beast (yes, this is a reference to Revelations). While others recognized the American Dream as being a hypocrisy and so chose the Golden Eternity instead.The Beat generation and early hippies sought to separate themselves from mainstream society where they believed they could start anew and fully experience life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The flower child philosophy was in fact very Transcendental, minus the stuffy New England mentality.

    Read More

More about Countercultures: The Beat Generation

Open Document