Straying away from the mainstream can be difficult unless there is a group of people with a common interest that brings them together. The 1960s was a time of not only prominent mainstream culture but also counterculture. The mainstream culture was notably defined by four different concepts that connected white middle and upper class Americans: Patriotism, believing in the institution of marriage, the American dream, and the idea that conformity kept society ordered. In contrast, the counterculture of the time went against all of these ideals, believing in rejecting traditional American society by dropping out and forming communes, taking part in free love, and the rebellion against conformity and materialism. What made the community of hippies,
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65 million children were born between 1945 to 1961, mostly because of all the young couples that got married after the men returned from war and they could begin families. Simultaneously, the Post-World War II economic expansion, which mirrored the one after World War I, was starting all around the world. Unlike the Post-World War I economic boom, this one spread the wealth fairly among the classes. As unemployment went down and productivity grew the middle class swelled, and because the economy was so good, most people thought it to be the perfect time to move out to the suburbs and have more children. 18 years later when the first babies of the baby boom were becoming adults, the economy was still prosperous and babies were still being born at a record rate, and the 1960s counterculture movement was gaining popularity. There were so many new adults in an economy that most did not require a job. This allowed people “to drop out of society”. They were able to not go to college, not have a job, and fully immerse themselves in the counterculture movement of the …show more content…
Users of these drugs believed that they were not shutting out the world but embracing it. They believed that these drugs placed the user in contact with a kind of “universal oneness”, meaning they formed a union between the individual and the universe they lived in. This union would then lead to kindness, harmony, and love, all values that the hippies of the 1960s valued. Trying to spread these values and educate people on the idea that psychedelic drugs expand one’s mind and consciousness, many strong endorsers for these drugs came forward. Most notably is Timothy Leary, a Harvard psychologist, on the East coast and Ken Kesey and his group of the Merry Pranksters in the West. Timothy Leary, or “The High Priest of Acid” organized many gatherings advocating the use of psychedelic drugs. While he worked at Harvard, Leary would gather groups of students and artists and invited them to take psychedelic drugs, sometimes LSD, but mostly psilocybin, for his research on the chemical. Leary urged young people to “turn on, tune, and drop out”, most likely meaning turn on the mystical experience, tune into the message, and drop out of the mainstream. After he left Harvard, Leary founded the International Foundation for Internal Freedom, which trained guides in the psychedelic exploration of the mind,
65 million children were born between 1945 to 1961, mostly because of all the young couples that got married after the men returned from war and they could begin families. Simultaneously, the Post-World War II economic expansion, which mirrored the one after World War I, was starting all around the world. Unlike the Post-World War I economic boom, this one spread the wealth fairly among the classes. As unemployment went down and productivity grew the middle class swelled, and because the economy was so good, most people thought it to be the perfect time to move out to the suburbs and have more children. 18 years later when the first babies of the baby boom were becoming adults, the economy was still prosperous and babies were still being born at a record rate, and the 1960s counterculture movement was gaining popularity. There were so many new adults in an economy that most did not require a job. This allowed people “to drop out of society”. They were able to not go to college, not have a job, and fully immerse themselves in the counterculture movement of the …show more content…
Users of these drugs believed that they were not shutting out the world but embracing it. They believed that these drugs placed the user in contact with a kind of “universal oneness”, meaning they formed a union between the individual and the universe they lived in. This union would then lead to kindness, harmony, and love, all values that the hippies of the 1960s valued. Trying to spread these values and educate people on the idea that psychedelic drugs expand one’s mind and consciousness, many strong endorsers for these drugs came forward. Most notably is Timothy Leary, a Harvard psychologist, on the East coast and Ken Kesey and his group of the Merry Pranksters in the West. Timothy Leary, or “The High Priest of Acid” organized many gatherings advocating the use of psychedelic drugs. While he worked at Harvard, Leary would gather groups of students and artists and invited them to take psychedelic drugs, sometimes LSD, but mostly psilocybin, for his research on the chemical. Leary urged young people to “turn on, tune, and drop out”, most likely meaning turn on the mystical experience, tune into the message, and drop out of the mainstream. After he left Harvard, Leary founded the International Foundation for Internal Freedom, which trained guides in the psychedelic exploration of the mind,