The Counterculture of the 1960s
Hippies and their Counterculture Movement
The hippies’ primary tenet was that life was about being happy, not about what others thought you should be. Hippies were dissatisfied with what their parents had built for them, a rather strange belief given that their parents had built them for. Hippies were the largest counter-cultural classification comprising mostly white members of the middle class.
Counterculture Progresses
As the 1960s progressed, widespread tensions developed in American society that tended to flow along generational lines regarding the war in Vietnam, race relations, sexual mores, women's rights, traditional modes of authority, and a materialist interpretation of the American Dream.
Counterculture Music
Rejection of mainstream culture was best embodied in the new genres of psychedelic rock music, pop-art, and new explorations in spirituality. New forms of musical presentation also played a key role in spreading the counterculture, mainly large outdoor rock festivals.