Were the sixties swinging?

Authors Avatar

Were the sixties swinging?

We often hear the sixties referred to as the ‘swinging’ decade bye people who were around at the time, but really how true is this statement. Were the sixties really swinging or is that just the way people want to remember them. Could the term ‘the swinging sixties’ really have been created to mask the tragedy and suffering of many during that decade?

 The sixties was, undoubtedly one of the most internationally hostile decades of the century. Through many separate events there was a breakdown in international trust. I will go into these later. No one can deny however that the sixties were swinging, at least in the world of fashion. Music too was a big influence on the cultures that came into being during the decade. The sixties were the first times that things were directed at the young and youth culture throughout the period became more and more socially acceptable.

 For this piece of coursework I have interviewed three people alive during the sixties and also people of my own age who weren’t. I will then compare these perceptions with the reality.

  Firstly we will look at my primary sources who were around during the period. The first person is my grandmother Mary Gammage; she was aged 30 at the start of the sixties. She lived in England throughout the decade.

 Her husband (my grandfather) was also 30 at the start of the sixties and lived in England. He shared her views on most things he too thought that there were mixed feelings about Vietnam. He too is an admirer of Martin Luther King and the work he did for black liberation. He said music in the sixties wasn’t really a big deal although he had classical tastes. The same goes for fashion, he did however mention Carnaby Street. He too said that he didn’t feel himself that the sixties were ‘swinging’ he only felt like that from what he observed.

 This information gained from these two valuable primary sources contrasts strongly with other sources that I have studied. One other source for instance described a MOD called Denzil and an average week for him. It was written in a book called ‘the sixties’ written by Frances Wheen in 1982. Because this book was published after the sixties it is a secondary source and therefore we cannot be guaranteed its authenticity. It is probably then safe to assume that the MOD in question had exaggerated slightly what was written in the source. It describes his week and sees him out every night of he week but Thursday a various pubs and night clubs around London. This Source cannot be taken, and considered the lifestyle of the average man or woman of the sixties because as we have seen so far with my two primary sources, it wasn’t. This source was probably written to form part of book which was either a cash-in on the sixties portrayal as the swinging decade, or as a source in a proper educational history book. We can see from my interviews so far that this kind of lifestyle was certainly not lived by the majority of people. Although many thought that this was the life led by most MODs. We can see that this was common opinion by looking at a satirical picture from ‘punch’ magazine.

Join now!

It shows a MOD making up an excuse about why she cant go out that evening, that is ironical (or was viewed to be) because it was common opinion that MODs were out at all hours and never wanted to stay in. This was written with the intention of getting a laugh. It is Primary (written in 1963) and useful in showing us what the general public’s perception of it was. I don’t however think that it is a very reliable source. As we can see perceptions are not always correct and I ...

This is a preview of the whole essay