Arthur Marwick argues that the sixties were characterised by the counter-cultural movements across a number of areas. Do you think that this view is supported by the evidence?

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Arthur Marwick argues that the sixties were characterised by the counter-cultural movements across a number of areas. Do you think that this view is supported by the evidence?

Over the course of this assignment I will draw on examples from the disciplines that I have chosen. History, history of science and history of art. Due to the constraints of my word limit I will only be looking at two or three examples from each subject. For my conclusion I will choose the events that relate best to the impact of counter-culture may or may not have had.

When we are looking at the 1960's, we must consider what the sixties consists of. The sixties society is different from the societies of today but when you look at them we realise that many of the things taken for granted in today's cultural environment stems from that era. Periodization is a device used by historians to organise and categorize the huge amounts of history into smaller more manageable chunks. This means that in a way centuries and decades are used a convenient periodizations, although the points of change do not naturally coincide with these man made points of time.

The events that take place within a natural period contain a pattern, i.e. the attitudes, values and social hierarchies within the periodization are all connected. The sixties could be considered as part of a longer period of post war recovery. Also many important changes occurred in the fifties and the seventies that were closely related to the events of the 1960's. This periodization could therefore be more accurately classified as a period of cultural change and social change from 1958 to1973, but for convenience in this assignment will be referred to as "the sixties".

HISTORY

To look at history in relation to the 1960's I am going to look at the attributes that mainstream culture was given and how counter-culture looked to challenge these. To study what was mainstream in the 1960's we have to look at the common place ideals that were widely accepted at the time. The mainstream was an accepted way of thinking, not everyone accepted everything in the mainstream but the majority voice created it.

The social values if the mainstream 1960m culture consisted primarily of "rigid social hierarchy, the subordination of women to men and children to parents, stuffy and repressed attitudes to sex, respect for authority, the prevalence of racism and the growth of affluence and consumerism". Block 6, P24-25.

People and groups of people rejected certain restrictions that were imposed upon them. The segregation of black and white people was heavily part of the mainstream culture, with the Negroes being excluded from certain places and events. In post war America affluence had arrived although there were still some very poverty ridden parts. The second world war in America were everyone from women to black people all participated in the war effort raised great hopes of substantial social change. It was due to this social upheaval that sat back and wanted to change the view that Negroes should be excluded and get their views heard. This gave a strong voice to the black civil rights movements. The movements were not opposed to the whole of the mainstream, just the parts that placed restrictions on them. This was not just true of the states, but also happening in Britain where the frustrations of the generally very conservative and unchanging natures of institutions caused the rise of marches and protests, some of which were peaceful and some violent, this brought about the changes that are still happening today.
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The views of the changes coupled with the spirit of the times, along with the beginning of a technology revolution that was making peoples lives easier and the higher wages lead women to believe that there was more to life than being a homemaker and this caused them to become increasingly unhappy in their roles. One counter-cultural movement challenged this and women demanded equal rights. The young women who were protesting had unprecedented economic security, which helped them be more daring. The introduction of the contraceptive pill showed women that they no longer needed to 'live their life ...

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