The Counterculture
The history of United States of America starts relatively late when compared to other countries of West European civilization. However it inherited the background and experience of the "old world" and succeeded in becoming the world's superpower. Today, the United States dominates the world in politics, economics and culture. The policies of the U.S. government directly affect every part of the world. In order to understand the motives of this superpower's policies, it is essential to understand historical events that shape American way of looking. This paper tries to examine how one of the major social movements, the counterculture movement in the sixties, changed the American perspective towards world issues. After the World War II, the structure of the society changed deeply in the United States. The gap between the government, and the public increased. Racial injustice was very common and people were afraid of foreign ideologies such as Communism (Hayden, 1962). Suburban communities, where women stayed at home, men went to work in his suits, and totally obedient children were the ideal (Mofford, 1998). The American dream components of the fifties were a car and a house with a garage in the suburban area.
The key concept of him was brotherhood and sisterhood of all humankind. In the sixties the young generation that did not accept to obey the existing social rules and tried to change the social conditions, formed a counterculture. Moreover, in the fifties, art was tried to be kept in the framework it was created. (1962), the characteristics of the ideal men in the fifties were impersonal and unemotional. Moreover, the counterculture was destroying the morality of the youth, encouraging them to rebel, and they were threat to socioeconomic values of the society (Mofford, 1998) Americans who grew up in the Great depression era and who made sacrifices in World War II were angered by the attitudes of hippies and the actions of radical students. The counterculture activists were inspired by the non-violent protests of the civil rights leader; Martin Luther King Junior. Another major social movement of the sixties was the civil rights movement. There was a great contrast between the literature of the fifties and the literature of sixties. However, their understanding of the concept of freedom has been facing a transformation through the history. In contrast, in the sixties, ways of freeing art was desired. The Beat writers, who tried to take the individual out of the control of the standardized, overpowered, conformist society, were interested in the spiritualism and freedom. Many students initially tried to change colleges and universities, which they considered part of the bad system. The literature changed into responsibility and duty. The counterculture had spread and motivated many other human rights movements all over the world as well. Some members of the counterculture stressed politics.
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