In 1969, Theodore Rozak introduced the term counter-culture in his book “The Making of a Counter Culture”. The simple premise was a culture developed with values and norms substantially significant from those of the mainstream society within which they are contained, is a counter-culture.
The creation of a counter-culture can be called a cultural revolution or depending on the context of the change drivers could be labeled something more specific, for example, a youth rebellion. This was the case for the cultural revolution of the 1960’s.
The Rolling Stones
The other day I was listening to some old vinyl record albums by the Rolling Stones, which I had purchased in the decade of the 1960’s. Although one among many, the Rolling Stones were “perceived by the youth of the world as representatives of opposition to an old, cruel order — the antidote to a class-bound, authoritarian culture”. (I stole this quote, although slightly modified, from Wikipedia as I don’t think I could have written it any better).
This started me reminiscing about the youth rebellion of the time, I grew up in the 1960’s. It dawned on me the sub-cultural which was created by this youth rebellion was now in fact totally integrated into main-stream culture.
Living in the Past
For me, the music of the time was closely associated with the culture changes being integrated into main stream society.
Although my my wife has often claimed I live in the past because of my close association to the cultural artifacts of that time (movies, music, literature, fads), I have come to realize, in some ways the present is the past and the changes to societal values and norms initiated by the youth rebellion of the 1960’s are now the norms of today.
So maybe I am not an old fashioned fuddy-duddy lost in the past but rather just reveling in the amazing changes of that decade and looking forward to the next cultural revolution. I predict it has started, I refer to the environmentalists, probably the next counter-culture to become mainstream. (Hopefully not too late).