Editing Counterculture (section)

== History ==
Bill Osgerby argues that:
<blockquote>the counterculture's various strands developed from earlier artistic and political movements. On both sides of the Atlantic the 1950s "[[Beat Generation]]" had fused [[Existentialism|existentialist philosophy]] with [[jazz]], [[poetry]], [[literature]], [[Eastern religions|Eastern]] [[mysticism]], and [[drugs]]—themes that were all sustained in the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|1960s counterculture]].<ref>Bill Osgerby, "Youth Culture" in Paul Addison and Harriet Jones, eds. ''A Companion to Contemporary Britain: 1939–2000'' (2005) pp. 127–44, quote at p. 132.</ref></blockquote>

=== United States ===
{{Main|Counterculture of the 1960s|Timeline of 1960s counterculture}}
{{Further|Anti-nuclear movement|Opposition to the Vietnam War|Sexual revolution}}
[[File:Abbie Hoffman visiting the University of Oklahoma circa 1969.jpg|thumb|right|[[Abbie Hoffman]], leader of the countercultural protest group the [[Yippies]]]]

In the United States, the counterculture of the 1960s became identified with the rejection of conventional [[social norms]] of the 1950s. Counterculture youth rejected the cultural standards of their parents, especially with respect to [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] and initial widespread support for the [[Vietnam War]],<ref name="Eric Donald Hirsch 1993 p 419"/><ref>Mary Works Covington, ''Rockin' At the Red Dog: The Dawn of Psychedelic Rock'', 2005.</ref> and, less directly, the [[Cold War]]—with many young people fearing that America's [[nuclear arms race]] with the [[Soviet Union]], coupled with its involvement in Vietnam, would lead to a [[nuclear holocaust]].

In the United States, widespread tensions developed in the 1960s in American society that tended to flow along generational lines regarding the [[Vietnam War]], [[race relations]], [[Sexual revolution|sexual mores]], [[women's rights]], traditional modes of authority, and a [[Economic materialism|materialist]] interpretation of the [[American Dream]]. White, [[middle class]] youth—who made up the bulk of the counterculture in [[Western world|Western countries]]—had sufficient leisure time, thanks to widespread economic [[prosperity]], to turn their attention to [[social issues]].<ref name="Conscience"/> These social issues included support for [[civil rights]], [[Women's rights#Modern movements|women's rights]], and [[LGBTQ rights movements]], and [[opposition to the Vietnam War]]. The counterculture also had access to a media which was eager to present their concerns to a wider public. Demonstrations for [[social justice]] created far-reaching changes affecting many aspects of society. [[Hippies]] became the largest countercultural group in the United States.<ref name="Yablonsky, Lewis 1968 pp 21-37"/>

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| quote  = "The 60s were a leap in [[human consciousness]]. [[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Malcolm X]], [[Martin Luther King]], [[Che Guevara]], [[Mother Teresa]], they led a [[Revolution#Political and socioeconomic revolutions|revolution]] of conscience. [[The Beatles]], [[The Doors]], [[Jimi Hendrix]] created revolution and evolution themes. The music was like [[Salvador Dalí|Dalí]], with many colors and revolutionary ways. The youth of today must go there to find themselves."
| source = — [[Carlos Santana]]<ref>[http://puntodigital.com/carlos-santana-im-immortal/224228/ Carlos Santana: I'm Immortal] interview by ''Punto Digital'', October 13, 2010</ref>
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Rejection of [[mainstream culture]] was best embodied in the new genres of [[psychedelic rock]] music, [[pop art]], and new explorations in [[spirituality]]. Musicians who exemplified this era in the United Kingdom and United States included [[The Beatles]], [[John Lennon]], &nbsp;[[Neil Young]], [[Bob Dylan]], [[The Grateful Dead]], [[Jefferson Airplane]], [[Jimi Hendrix]], [[The Doors]], [[Frank Zappa]], [[The Rolling Stones]], [[Velvet Underground]], [[Janis Joplin]], [[The Who]], [[Joni Mitchell]], [[The Kinks]], [[Sly and the Family Stone]]<ref>Vincent, Rickey. &nbsp;[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sly-and-the-Family-Stone "Sly and the Family Stone."] &nbsp;''Encyclopædia Britannica''.  Retrieved from www.Britannica.com, 22 December 2018.</ref> and, in their early years, [[Chicago (band)|Chicago]]. New forms of musical presentation also played a key role in spreading the counterculture, with large outdoor rock festivals being the most noteworthy. The climactic live statement on this occurred from August 15–18, 1969, with the ''[[Woodstock]] Music Festival'' held in [[Bethel, New York]]—with 32 of [[rock music|rock]]'s and [[psychedelic rock]]'s most popular acts performing live outdoors during the sometimes rainy weekend to an audience of half a million people. ([[Michael Lang (producer)|Michael Lang]] stated 400,000 attended, half of which did not have a ticket.)<ref name = "NY Times Aug 27, 1969">{{cite news | title = State Investigating Handling of Tickets At Woodstock Fair | work = [[The New York Times]] | page = 45 | date = August 27, 1969|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/08/27/archives/state-investigating-handling-of-tickets-at-woodstock-fair.html}}</ref> It is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history—with ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' calling it one of the ''50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll''.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6085488/woodstock_in_1969| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209163601/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6085488/woodstock_in_1969| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 9, 2007| title=Woodstock in 1969| date=June 24, 2004| access-date=April 17, 2008| magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> According to Bill Mankin, "It seems fitting… that one of the most enduring labels for the entire generation of that era was derived from a rock festival: the 'Woodstock Generation'."<ref>Mankin, Bill. &nbsp;[http://likethedew.com/2012/03/04/we-can-all-join-in-how-rock-festivals-helped-change-america/ ''We Can All Join In: How Rock Festivals Helped Change America''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219032259/http://likethedew.com/2012/03/04/we-can-all-join-in-how-rock-festivals-helped-change-america/ |date=December 19, 2013 }}. Like the Dew. 2012.</ref>

Songs, movies, TV shows, and other entertainment media with socially-conscious themes—some allegorical, some literal—became very numerous and popular in the 1960s. Counterculture-specific sentiments expressed in song lyrics and popular sayings of the period included things such as "do your own thing", "[[turn on, tune in, drop out]]", "whatever turns you on", "[[eight miles high]]", "[[Wine, women and song|sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll]]", and "[[Light My Fire|light my fire]]". Spiritually, the counterculture included interest in [[astrology]], the term "[[Age of Aquarius]]" and knowing people's [[astrological signs]] of the [[Zodiac]]. This led Theodore Roszak to state "A {{sic}} eclectic taste for [[Mysticism|mystic]], [[occult]], and magical phenomena has been a marked characteristic of our [[post-war]] [[youth culture]] since the days of the [[beatnik]]s."<ref name=TRbook/> In the United States, even actor [[Charlton Heston]] contributed to the movement, with the statement "Don't trust anyone over thirty" (a saying coined in 1965 by activist [[Jack Weinberg]]) in the 1968 film ''[[Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|Planet of the Apes]]''; the same year, actress and social activist [[Jane Fonda]] starred in the sexually-themed ''[[Barbarella (film)|Barbarella]]''. Both actors [[Opposition to the Vietnam War|opposed the Vietnam War]] during its duration, and Fonda would eventually become controversially active in the [[peace movement]].

The counterculture in the United States has been interpreted as lasting roughly from 1964 to 1972<ref name="Reason">{{cite book|last=Riech|first=Robert|title=Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4000-4221-0|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|title-link=Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America}} Chapter 1, pp. 13-14</ref>—coincident with America's involvement in Vietnam—and reached its peak in August 1969 at the Woodstock Festival, New York, characterized in part by the film ''[[Easy Rider]]'' (1969). Unconventional or [[Psychedelia|psychedelic dress]]; political activism; public protests; campus uprisings; pacifist then loud, defiant music; [[Recreational drug use|recreational drugs]]; [[Communitarianism|communitarian experiments]], and [[sexual liberation]] were hallmarks of the sixties counterculture—most of whose members were young, White, and [[middle class]].<ref>Ankony, Robert C., "Counterculture of the 1960s," ''Criminology Brief of Theorists, Theories, and Terms'', CFM Research, Jul. 2012. p.36.</ref>

[[File:Vietnamdem.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|left|A demonstrator offers a flower to military police at an [[Opposition to the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War protest]] in [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington]], [[Virginia]], 21 October 1967]]
In the United States, the movement divided the population. To some Americans, these attributes reflected American ideals of [[free speech]], [[social equality]], [[world peace]], and [[Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness|the pursuit of happiness]]; to others, they reflected a self-indulgent, pointlessly rebellious, unpatriotic, and destructive assault on the country's traditional [[Argument from morality|moral order]]. Authorities banned the psychedelic drug [[LSD]], restricted political gatherings, and tried to enforce bans on what they considered [[obscenity]] in books, music, theater, and other media.

The counterculture has been argued to have diminished in the early 1970s, and some have attributed two reasons for this. First, it has been suggested that the most popular of its political goals—[[civil rights]], [[civil liberties]], [[gender equality]], [[environmentalism]], and [[Opposition to Vietnam War|the end of the Vietnam War]]—were  "accomplished" (to at least some degree); and also that its most popular social attributes—particularly a "[[wikt:live and let live|live and let live]]" mentality in personal lifestyles (including, but not limited to the "[[sexual revolution]]")—were co-opted by mainstream society.<ref name="Conscience"/><ref name="Beatles">{{cite book|last=Yenne|first=Bill|title=The Beatles|year=1989|isbn=978-0-681-00576-1|publisher=Longmeadow Press}} pp. 46-55</ref> Second, a decline of idealism and [[hedonism]] occurred as many notable counterculture figures died, the rest settled into mainstream society and started their own families, and the "magic economy" of the 1960s gave way to the [[1973–75 recession|stagflation of the 1970s]]<ref name="Conscience">{{cite book|last=Krugman|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Krugman|title=The Conscience of a Liberal|year=2007|isbn=978-0-393-06069-0|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.|title-link=The Conscience of a Liberal}} Chapter 5. Economist Paul Krugman comments on the effects of the economy on the counterculture: "In fact," he argues, "you have to wonder whether the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] [[recession]] of 1969-1971 [which nearly doubled the [[unemployment rate]]] didn't do more to end the [[Hippies|hippie movement]] than the killings at [[Altamont, California|Altamont]]."</ref>—the latter costing many in the middle-classes the luxury of being able to live outside conventional [[social institution]]s. The counterculture, however, continues to influence [[social movement]]s, art, music, and society in general, and the post-1973 mainstream society has been in many ways a hybrid of the 1960s establishment and counterculture.<ref name="Beatles"/>

The counterculture movement has been said to be rejuvenated in a way that maintains some similarities from the Counterculture of the 1960s, but it is different as well. Photographer [[Steve Schapiro]] investigated and documented these contemporary hippie communities from 2012 to 2014. He traveled the country with his son, attending festival after festival. These findings were compiled in Schapiro's book ''Bliss: Transformational Festivals & the Neo Hippie.'' One of his most valued findings was that these "Neo Hippies" experience and encourage such a spiritual commitment to the community.

===Australia===

[[File:Oz-31-cover.jpg|thumb|1971 edition of the Australian [[underground press]] magazine ''[[Oz (magazine)|Oz]]'']]

Australia's countercultural trend followed the one burgeoning in the US, and to a lesser extent than the one in Great Britain. Political scandals in the country, such as the [[disappearance of Harold Holt]], and the [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis|1975 constitutional crisis]], as well as Australia's involvement in [[Vietnam War]], led to a disillusionment or disengagement with political figures and the government. Large protests were held in the country's most populated cities such as [[Sydney]] and [[Melbourne]], one prominent march was held in Sydney in 1971 on [[George Street, Sydney|George Street]]. The photographer [[Roger Scott (photographer)|Roger Scott]], who captured the protest in front of the [[Queen Victoria Building]], remarked: "I knew I could make a point with my camera. It was exciting. The old conservative world was ending and a new Australia was beginning. The demonstration was almost silent. The atmosphere was electric. The protesters were committed to making their presence felt … It was clear they wanted to show the government that they were mighty unhappy".<ref>{{cite web|title=Vietnam march George street|work=[[Art Gallery of New South Wales]]|date=2007|url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/114.1989/|access-date=31 January 2018}}</ref>

Political upheaval made its way into art in the country: film, music and literature were shaped by the ongoing changes both within the country, the Southern Hemisphere and the rest of the world. Bands such as The Master's Apprentices, [[The Pink Finks]] and Normie Rowe & The Playboys, along with Sydney's [[The Easybeats]], [[Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs]] and [[The Missing Links (band)|The Missing Links]] began to emerge in the 1960s.

One of Australia's most noted literary voices of the counter-culture movement was [[Frank Moorhouse]], whose collection of short stories, ''Futility and Other Animals'', was first published in [[Sydney]] 1969.<ref name="Rickard">{{cite book|first=John|last=Rickard|title=Australia: A Cultural History|pages=224|year=2017|publisher=[[Monash University Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-921867-60-6}}</ref> Its "discontinuous narrative" was said to reflect the "ambience of the counter-culture".<ref name="Rickard" /> [[Helen Garner]]'s ''[[Monkey Grip (novel)|Monkey Grip]]'' (1977), released eight years later, is considered a classic example of the contemporary Australian novel, and captured the thriving countercultural movement in Melbourne's inner-city in the mid 1970s, specifically [[open relationships]] and recreational drug use.<ref>{{cite book|title=Monkey grip / Helen Garner|via=[[National Library of Australia]]|access-date=2 April 2018|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/7045527|isbn=9781742282138|last1=Garner|first1=Helen|date=2008-03-03|publisher=Penguin Random House Australia }}</ref><ref name="PostColonial">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English|pages=564|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2004|isbn=978-1-134468-48-5}}</ref> Years later, Garner revealed it was strongly autobiographical and based on her own diaries.<ref name="PostColonial" /> Additionally, from the 1960s, [[surf culture]] took rise in Australia given the abundance of beaches in the country, and this was reflected in art, from bands such as [[The Atlantics]] and novels like ''[[Puberty Blues (novel)|Puberty Blues]]'' as well as the [[Puberty Blues (film)|film of the same name]].

===Great Britain===
Starting in the late 1960s the [[counterculture movement]] spread quickly and pervasively from the US.<ref>Elizabeth Nelson, ''The British Counter-Culture, 1966-73: A Study of the Underground Press'' (1989) [https://books.google.com/books?id=dAuwCwAAQBAJ excerpt]</ref>  Britain did not experience the intense social turmoil produced in America by the [[Vietnam War]] and racial tensions. Nevertheless, British youth readily identified with their American counterparts' desire to cast off the older generation's social mores. The new music was a powerful weapon. Rock music, which had first been introduced from the US in the 1950s, became a key instrument in the social uprisings of the young generation and Britain soon became a groundswell of musical talent thanks to groups like [[the Beatles]], [[Rolling Stones]], [[the Who]], [[Pink Floyd]], and more in coming years.<ref>Steven D. Stark, ''Meet the Beatles: a cultural history of the band that shook youth, gender, and the world'' (2005).</ref><ref>Barry J. Faulk, ''British rock modernism, 1967-1977: the story of music hall in rock'' (2016).</ref><ref>William Osgerby, ''Youth in Britain since 1945'' (1998)</ref>

The antiwar movement in Britain closely collaborated with their American counterparts, supporting peasant insurgents in the Asian jungles.<ref>Sylvia A. Ellis, "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13507486.2014.933186 Promoting solidarity at home and abroad: the goals and tactics of the anti-Vietnam War movement in Britain]." ''European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire 21.4'' (2014): 557-576.</ref>  The  "[[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament|Ban the Bomb]]" protests centered around opposition to [[nuclear weaponry]]; the campaign gave birth to what was to become the [[peace symbol]] of the 1960s.

=== Soviet Union ===
Although not exactly equivalent to the English definition, the term Контркультура (''Kontrkul'tura'') became common in [[Soviet Union]] ([[Russian language|Russian]], [[Ukrainian underground]]   and other) to define a 1990s [[cultural movement]] that promoted acting outside of cultural conventions: the use of explicit language; graphical descriptions of sex, violence and illicit activities; and uncopyrighted use of "safe" characters involved in such activities.

During the early 1970s, the [[Soviet government]] rigidly promoted optimism in Russian culture. Divorce and alcohol abuse were viewed as taboo by the media. However, Russian society grew weary of the gap between real life and the creative world,{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}} and underground culture became "forbidden fruit". General satisfaction with the quality of existing works led to parody, such as how the [[Russian joke|Russian anecdotal joke]] tradition turned the setting of ''[[War and Peace]]'' by [[Leo Tolstoy]] into a grotesque world of sexual excess. Another well-known example is [[Russian humour#Black humour|black humor]] (mostly in the form of short poems) that dealt exclusively with funny deaths and/or other mishaps of small, innocent children.

In the mid-1980s, the [[Glasnost]] policy permitted the production of less optimistic works. As a consequence, Soviet (and Russian) cinema during the late 1980s and the early 1990s manifested in [[action movie]]s with explicit (but not necessarily graphic) scenes of ruthless violence and social dramas about [[drug abuse]], [[prostitution]] and failing relationships. Although Russian movies of the time would be [[MPAA rating system|rated "R"]] in the United States due to violence, the use of explicit language was much milder than in American cinema.

In the late 1990s, Soviet counterculture became increasingly popular on the [[Internet]]. Several websites appeared that posted user-created short stories dealing with sex, drugs and violence. The following features are considered the most popular topics in such works:

* Wide use of explicit language;
* Deliberate misspelling;
* Descriptions of drug use and consequences of abuse;
* Negative portrayals of alcohol use;
* Sex and violence: nothing is a taboo – in general, violence is rarely advocated, while all types of sex are considered good;
* [[Parody]]: media advertising, classic movies, [[popular culture|pop culture]] and children's books are considered fair game;
* Non-conformance; and
* [[Politically incorrect]] topics, mostly [[racism]], [[xenophobia]] and [[homophobia]].

A notable aspect of counterculture at the time was the influence of contra-cultural developments on Russian pop culture. In addition to traditional Russian styles of music, such as songs with jail-related lyrics, new music styles with explicit language were developed.

=== Asia ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2022}}
[[Sebastian Kappen]], an [[India]]n theologian, has tried to redefine counterculture in the Asian context. In March 1990, at a seminar in Bangalore, he presented his countercultural perspectives (chapter 4 in S. Kappen, ''Tradition, modernity, counterculture: an Asian perspective'', Visthar, Bangalore, 1994). Kappen envisages counterculture as a new culture that has to negate the two opposing cultural phenomena in Asian countries:
#invasion by Western [[capitalism|capitalist]] culture, and
#the emergence of [[Christian revival|revivalist]] movements.
Kappen writes, "Were we to succumb to the first, we should be losing our identity; if to the second, ours would be a false, obsolete identity in a mental universe of dead symbols and delayed myths".

The most important countercultural movement in India had taken place in the state of [[West Bengal]] during the 1960s by a group of poets and artists who called themselves [[Hungry Generation|Hungryalists]].