8.12: Youth Culture
8.12: Explain how and why opposition to existing policies and values developed and changed over the course of the 20th century.
In the last set of notes, we went over the Great Society and now, we’re going to be talking about youth culture in the United States.
Student Organizations
During this time, young people became increasingly involved in politics, and many new student organizations were created across the United States. For example, the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) was an organization created to support the Vietnam War and the containment of communism. In 1962, a student organization called Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a meeting in Port Huron. They created the Port Huron Statement, calling for society to adopt a new form of participatory democracy. They also argued that America should not participate in the Vietnam War because once the students graduated, they would be the ones drafted to fight. The people who supported these ideas became known as the New Left and they participated in many anti-war demonstrations. One of these demonstrations led to the Kent State Massacre in 1970, in which the National Guard opened fire on a protest at Kent State University in Ohio.
The Counterculture
In the United States, a movement among young people emerged that rejected social norms and traditional culture. This movement became known as the Counterculture because they rejected the common culture of the time. They preferred to participate in rebellious fashion, new music, and drug use. For instance, hippies of the Counterculture wore bright, loose clothing and had long hair. In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District, many hippies lived communally and used drugs such as marijuana and psychedelics. The culture around talking about sex also became more normalized. This was due to a rise in medication, birth control pills, antibiotics, and contraception. Premarital sex, sex with multiple partners, and abortion became less taboo topics of conversation. The Counterculture also embraced new forms of music from artists like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Janis Joplin. The Woodstock Music Festival, lasting several days, was held in 1969 and attracted thousands of young people who enjoyed listening to modern music.
