Counterculture
Counterculture is a term in sociology used to describe any subculture or group whose values and norms are at odds with those of the social mainstream. In this sense, the Mafia, street gangs, and the Amish, as well as hippies are all countercultures in the United States.
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1960s American counterculture
The term "counterculture" is perhaps most commonly used in reference to the youth rebellion that swept North America in the 1960s. This movement was a reaction against the conservative social mores of the 1950s, the political conservativism of the Cold War period, and the threat to male American youth from the Vietnam War draft.
The 1960s youth rebellion largely originated on college campuses, as a reaction to the doctrine of in loco parentis (in the place of parents) in which university authorities sought to control student behavior, and as a reaction to a growing political tumult, particularly as the civil rights movement in the Southern United States undertook a strategy of recruiting white middle class students to assist in the effort to enfranchise Blacks and challenge segregation. The youth culture turned abruptly away from the sense of social responsibility embodied in the American Civil Rights Movement and the protests against the Vietnam War, and pursued instead a lifestyle of personal gratification and "exploring inner space." Instead of campus political activity (of which the University of California at Berkeley was one leading center), there was the youth cultural rebellion that centered in nearby San Francisco in the Haight-Ashbury district.
The most radical social element of this counterculture were the hippies, whose sexual revolution challenged conventional notions of sexual behavior, who engaged in recreational drug use (particularly LSD and marijuana), and who challenged social norms in the areas of religion, music, art, living arrangements, clothing and even hygiene. This aspect of the movement rejected the mainstream and, following the dictate of Timothy Leary to "tune in, turn on and drop out", attempted to change society by dropping out of it.
While the hippie movement died out (or perhaps more correctly, grew up), the 1960s counterculture had a lasting impact on morality, lifestyle and fashion. The New Age religious movement also has certain roots in the 1960s counterculture.