The counter cultures and the social revolutions of the 1960's and 70's was influenced by the increasing use of drugs, both psychoactive and recreational. Music, Art, and Literature saw these social changes and were thus influenced, creating new styles and methods of cultural indulgences.
Subsequent to the Great World Wars the baby boom of the 40's and 50's led to the greater population of young people in the 60's and the 70's. 70 million of the baby boomers were becoming teenagers and young adults, and like many of that age were increasingly creative and curious. They began to question American government, ideology, lifestyles, and American normalities. They sought to change their world and put their revolutionary ideas into action. Abbie Hoffman wrote of the 60's, "We are here to make a better worldâ We were young.. And we were right."
These times were also permeated with the burdens of The Vietnam War, racial inequality, fear of nuclear war, The Cuban Missile Crisis, and the rampant materialism of capatilist society. The American youth took to protesting to change American politics all the while being influenced by inspirational leaders such as John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Art and Fashion simply became more a means for individual and communal statements.
It is Culture's relationship to the individual that has remained strangely uncertain throughout this period or any other for that matter. Similar to the Nature vs. Nuture debate we are unsure of the capabilities of human productivity without cultural influence. Although we can be certain of its magnitude towards human advancement. For example human thought, without nuturing, would not be more likely to expand than if culture were to exist without the exchange of ideas. It is as Aldous Huxley wrote, "Without culture.. man would be no more than another species of baboon." Because of society, individuals become in fact the product of language and culture. Mnay us become victims of society ideals or revolutions or as Huxley put it, "hypnotized conformists." "Each of us is born into some culture and passes his life within its confines." These such who don't stand for anything and unquestionably accept their culture are dragged into the norms. As the case was in the 60's and 70's , revolutionary ideas brought about influenctial leaders were accepted much as the old ideas had been by appealing means, and became commonly accepted or others like to believe that the American youth broke away from the previous conformity and all thought in this revolutionary way.
Whatever the means for the spread of new ideas in the 60's and 70's, it is more commonly accepted that the increased drug use was brought upon by the usual conformity of youth. Much like drug use today, one's decision about drugs is greatly influenced by other's in attempt not to come off weak or "uncool," embodying Huxley's idea of the "hypnotized conformist.â" Others suggest that the fact that the rolemodels of the countercultures (such as Bob Marley, The Grateful Dead, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hendrix, and some even claim JFK) used and in some cases endorsed drug use led to the increased use. Though it can be easily argued that the popularity of drugs with the public led to them becoming prominent in the media.
By 1965, San Francisco writer Michael Fallon created and defined a group of youthful leaders of the counter culture called Hippies. They were known throughout the country as a peoples who opposed and rejects the American norms and advocated extreme liberalism. The hippie movement was also noted for the peak of drug use. Hallucinogens and Marijuana were particulary favored by hippies and often times taken together. Paul B. Armstrong, Ph. D. wrote, "Chronic joints became a term commonly used by hippies, in which they rolled cannabis laced with LSD." He later remarked that a Chronic joint heightens the peak of the trip and brings back the effect in the comedown. Luckily Armstrong, self-experimented to give us better insight into a chronic trip. Hippies also engaged in large, organized demonstrations ranging from better wages to ending the war in Vietnam.
The use of drugs and its affect on society was one that was studied by the greatest minds in history. Artists, Authors, and even the father of modern-day psychology, Sigmund Freud explored the subject. Freud studied the affects of cocaine and hallucinogens with a passion, wanting to better understand their affect on human thought and as Aldous Huxley wrote, "The thought of the individual expressed through language, is directly influentcial to society..." But then we ask ourselves, are drugs good are bad for society? Do Hallucingoens provide us with better isnight into our thoughts and the human psyche or are they merely random images of one's imagination? Were the hippies, in fact, inspirational leaders who questioned the accepted and tried to change America for the better? Is culture better with or without them? And finally, are human beings better with or without culture itself? Aldous Huxley wrote of his response,
"Thanks to language and culture, human behavior can be incomparably more intelligent, more original, creative and flexible than the behavior of animals, whose brains are too small to accommodate the number of neurons necessary for the invention of language and the transmission of accumulated knowledge. But, thanks again to language and culture, human beings often behave with a stupidity, a lack of realism, a total inappropriateness, of which animals are incapable."