Counterculture Essays (Examples)

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The values of middle class society were seen to be the related to and unavoidably supportive of the status quo. This led to the trends and fashions that characterized this movement; such as long hair and the use of rock music as a form of rebellion and assertion of 'liberal ideals'. Similarly, the use of drugs was also seen as part of this expression and a way of rebelling against the established norms of the time. hile many of the hippie activities are seen in retrospect as being somewhat naive and even harmful, these actions and trends were important as indications and symbols of a serious issue; namely the rejection of norms and value that were seen to be conducive of hate an evil in all its manifestations. Therefore the spirit of the hippie counterculture was an element that was shared among all the groups and movements in differing….

Counterculture Sources
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Sociology Discussion
There is a restaurant in New York City that is famous for its outlandish behavior. The servers are rude and obnoxious, they ridicule patrons, make them wait long periods to order and to get their checks, and spill drinks and food all over them. However, people wait in droves to get in to this restaurant; the line to enter is around the block. How does this restaurant (which clearly violates concepts of social control and norms) attract customers? Why are people drawn to those individuals that defy social norms? Why are people attracted to musicians, artists, writers, or those in countercultures that deviate from mainstream society? In your response, include the definitions of deviance, social control, and social norms, and include which social institutions are responsible for teaching social conformity to members of a culture.

The attraction of this restaurant is clearly that it defies and roils directly against the….

1960s and 1970s Counterculture Movement
In the United States of America, freedom of speech and the ability to challenge accepted truths and to criticize the status quo have been a part of the identity of citizens since the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Since then, the country has undergone many changes, particularly in the ways that the social norm views the nation and the population who inhabit it. One of the most important components of the national identity has to do with the concept of the American Dream, the intangible quality that Americans have which allows anyone who is willing to work hard to transcend the social class in which they were born and climb the ladder to success. Anyone, from those born to the lowliest of families to the wealthiest person in the country could become anything their heart desired as long as they were willing….

'All you need is love,' sang The Beatles. But they sang against a backdrop of militant demonstrations, the hazing of soldiers, environmental 'monkey-wrenching,' self-destructive drug trips, and a knifing death at the Altamont Rock Festival in 1969. Apart from the eatherman faction of Students for a Democratic Society, which took Charles Manson as its hero, most people who identified with the 1960s counterculture deplored violence as much as they deplored the war in Viet Nam. Yet they were able to adapt the Boone myth to their own purposes by playing down its violence and emphasizing the first half of the regenerative cycle, the Indianizing of white pioneers. For those on the political left, as well as those on the right, the wilderness and the Indian were ideologically charged symbols (Herr 1991) (Bates 29)."
hile Herr's assessment was tainted with the experience of a returning Viet Nam era war veteran, he….

S.
A withdrawal from that conflict and the demise of the Johnson administration.

Several events in particular galvanized the Hippie generation against governmental authority in the 1960s, including the response of various Southern state governments to the growing Civil ights movement, especially after the disappearance and murder of Civil ights activists from the Northeast and the use of state troops to resist Supreme Court decisions on the matter of school desegregation. However, perhaps no political goal was more important to the Hippie generation than the opposition to the war in Vietnam and the compulsory draft system of all males of military age.

The Hippie movement embraced the anti-war and anti-draft cause, rallying in mass draft card burning demonstrations in Washington and in protest marches on college campuses throughout much of the country. Tragic events like the death of four college students shot by National Guard troops on the campus of Kent State University….


This counterculture movement was greeted with enormous publicity and popular interest, and contributed to changes in American culture (Law pp). Legacies of this era include "a willingness to challenge authority, greater social tolerance, the sense that politics is personal, environmental awareness, and changes in attitudes about gender roles, marriage, and child rearing" (Law pp). Moreover, during the 1960's, health foods and organic foods became popular among the children of the Sixties, and today are booming businesses, as most grocery stores now carry health and organic foods (Law pp).

A few of the things that characterize or gained popularity during the Sixties era include Beatlemania, the Apollo Man on the Moon mission, the drug Valium, Mickey Mouse watches, aluminum cans and pop-top cans for soft-drinks and beer, Tab and Diet Pepsi were introduced, felt tip pens, surfing, Foster Grant sunglasses, freeze-dried foods, home video recorders, The Duncan yo-yo, soft contact lenses, the….


It opposed traditional art that had been an elitist, intellectual, classy entertainment. Now it became something popular, accessible to the common people, centered on simple everyday objects that had as main target the entertainment of the viewer, rather than deep mythical, religious, philosophic concepts.

Art reflected the same counterculture attitude. It rebelled against the rules of the past, contradicted them, denied them, erased them, and established a new order, contrary to the traditional ways.

This turn in the mentality of people affected the vision of the future generations on a long-term. In the social point-of-view a new gate had been opened towards a very different kind of life. The traditions that had been denied during this stage would never return again: it had been a definite twist and not a mere phase. The battles fought for human rights, equal positions for black men and the feminist movement conquered even more territory and….

Since the supply is being specifically restricted, only a price increase could occur. Thus, creating exclusivity creates value to the seller.
The third reason why exclusivity is valuable is that it creates differentiation (Finkelstein, 2009). Differentiation is a key driver of value for many products and services. Exclusivity does not equate to differentiation, but it does increase the perception of differentiation, simply by virtue of the fact that the product is not mass market. The perception of differentiation is sufficient to drive value, regardless of whether or not there is actual differentiation. Thus, exclusivity drives value by being a means to achieve the perception of differentiation.

4. Senk argues that shopping in largely entertainment, a point to which I agree. Entertainment is simply something that amuses, diverts attention or pleases. In that respect, shopping is very much entertainment. As with any form of entertainment, shopping meets other purposes as well; and….

Exclusivity for these groups signals uniqueness. In a creative and individualistic society such as America's, uniqueness has cachet and value to the consumer, so any fashion item that can convey this uniqueness will also have value.
Exclusivity also has value because of its scarcity. This is a simple supply and demand equation. The price of a good (its value) is related to the demand for it and the supply of it. When demand is higher than supply, the price increases. Thus, by managing the scarcity of items in the stores, any popular or high quality items will be subject to supply constraints. The consumers of Urban Outfitters know this, and respond by assuming scarcity. They purchase the product quickly, knowing that they may otherwise lose out on the opportunity to do so.

The third reason why exclusivity is valuable is because of the thrill of the hunt. This psychological characteristic is….

Movement
The Cold War of the communist and the capitalist countries gay way to spying worldwide, together with the political and military meddling in the inside matters of the poor countries. Some of these developments led to a negative consequence which called for much of the distrust and uncertainty towards the government that came after the cold war. Examples of these outcomes are the serious reaction of the Soviet Union towards the famous uprising against communism, which included the Hungarian evolution of 1965, also the invasion in 1961 of the Cuban Bay of Pigs by the U.S. And the Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring in 1968. The lie of Dwight D. Eisenhower, president of the U.S. In 1960, about the extent of the U2 episode led to an even greater distrust amongst the public against the government (Eisenstadt, 1956).

The establishment in the U.S. was disintegrated into political and military framework after the….

Drug use patterns changed from soft and psychedelic drugs like cannabis and mushrooms to harder drugs like barbiturate pills and heroin. The focus on the hippie movement also dissolved. hat started as a relatively cohesive challenge to commercialism and corruption ended up being a fragmented array of debauch. The death of celebrity musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin triggered the end of the hippie heyday. In spite of its excesses, though, the hippie movement transformed American social values especially among youth culture.
orks Cited

Binkley, Sam. "Hippies." St. James Encyclopedia. 2002. Retrieved Nov 14, 207 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100587

CBC. "Hippie Society: The Youth Rebellion." 2006. Retrieved Nov 14, 2007 at http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-69-580/life_society/hippies/

Erowid. "Hippies." 1996. Retrieved Nov 14, 2007 at http://www.erowid.org/culture/hippies/

Sayre, James K. "Late 60s and Early 70s anti-Vietnam war protests, social and political background notes and a short discussion of some of the best rock 'n roll music of the times." 2007. Retrieved….

Urban Outfitters Case Study
Urban Outfitters has defined a highly differentiated and unique shopping experience, supported by the eclectic and highly varied store layouts and merchandise strategy. This approach to retailing appeals to the individuality and uniqueness every consumer also sees in themselves, allowing the consumers to define themselves by what they like. INA actuality, Urban Outfitters is more aligned to key marketing concepts and strategies than its much larger and less differentiated competitors including Sears and Wal-Mart. Appearing non-conformist and counter-culture within its image, Urban Outfitters is actually providing an escape for consumers to use their purchases to define who they really are and what they actually care out. etailing that appeals to the values and individuality of a consumers are highly effective in creating loyalty and continued repurchase (Puccinelli, Goodstein, Grewal, Price, aghubir, Stewart, 2009). The intent of this analysis is to explain why Urban Outfitters continues to be….

Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study
Explain why Sears or Wal-Mart cannot effectively create a trendy counterculture image

The reasons for stores like Urban Outfitters to be able to create such a culture are their ability to operate with low and medium volume. Hence it is possible to change the output based on changes in demand. For example, the 'Urban Outfitters' followed the policy of locating stores that have the concentration of targeted customers, and this also effectively made use of the existing structures to provide customer targeted fashion and label apparel and home furnishings. These could be promoted by the use of strategies like visual merchandising, displays, and customer related merchandise which naturally had higher prices and low volume. (Funding Universe, n. d.)

The advantage was that the company markets to a known demand at a set price. In the case of Wal-Mart or Sears, the problem is compound because the customers of….

Sixties A Time of Change
PAGES 8 WORDS 2263

The change was not all positive, however. Bailey notes that the social and psychological transformation that followed women working outside the home "mounted to tidal-wave proportions" (1020). hile women working outside the home in the urban age were not too terribly different from women working outside the home in the agricultural age, the movement raised questions about women's roles, family, and the workplace. The feminist movement was born from a mentality that women did not need to sty at home. Once they were in the workplace, however, they complained that they were expected to bring home the bacon and cook it as well. Feminists protested against sexism and even went up against historic giants like Yale and est Point. It was not long before women were seen flying airplanes and traveling in space. Feminists also railed against tradition organizations that judged women for their looks such as beauty pageants.….

" (Cresswell, p. 249)
In a manner, this also points us toward a more direct consideration of the friendship around which this novel revolves. In the relationship between Sal and Dean, we are given not just an autobiographical window into the lives of Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy respectively, but also into the core values to which the counterculture movement was essentially committed. Again, this denotes the inherently relatable nature of Kerouac's otherwise bold content, with the friendship between Sal and Dean serving as a reflection of the community and family values that round out the parallels with 'establishment' culture. These parallels make the text a particularly valuable meditation on America as it struggled between its cherished traditional values and the creeping threat of modernization.

ith respect to this struggle, it can be said that the characters of Sal and Dean battled endlessly with a sense of disillusionment and disenfranchisement. As evidenced….

Title: School Dress Codes: A Comprehensive Analysis and Recommendations

Introduction:
In recent years, school dress codes have been the subject of much debate and controversy. Some argue that they are necessary to maintain a safe and orderly learning environment, while others believe that they are unduly restrictive and infringe upon students' rights to express themselves. This essay presents a comprehensive analysis of school dress codes, exploring their historical roots, research findings, and potential biases. Based on this analysis, specific recommendations are offered to improve the effectiveness and fairness of dress code policies.

The History of School Dress Codes:
The origins of school dress codes....

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5 Pages
Term Paper

Sociology

Counterculture in the Sixties the

Words: 1688
Length: 5 Pages
Type: Term Paper

The values of middle class society were seen to be the related to and unavoidably supportive of the status quo. This led to the trends and fashions that…

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2 Pages
Essay

Education - Computers

Counterculture Sources

Words: 854
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Essay

Sociology Discussion There is a restaurant in New York City that is famous for its outlandish behavior. The servers are rude and obnoxious, they ridicule patrons, make them wait long…

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6 Pages
Essay

American History

1960s and 1970s Counterculture Movement in the

Words: 2109
Length: 6 Pages
Type: Essay

1960s and 1970s Counterculture Movement In the United States of America, freedom of speech and the ability to challenge accepted truths and to criticize the status quo have been a…

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12 Pages
Thesis

Music

Music and the Counterculture Music

Words: 4510
Length: 12 Pages
Type: Thesis

'All you need is love,' sang The Beatles. But they sang against a backdrop of militant demonstrations, the hazing of soldiers, environmental 'monkey-wrenching,' self-destructive drug trips, and a…

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8 Pages
Term Paper

Music

American Hippie Counterculture the Decade

Words: 2221
Length: 8 Pages
Type: Term Paper

S. A withdrawal from that conflict and the demise of the Johnson administration. Several events in particular galvanized the Hippie generation against governmental authority in the 1960s, including the response of…

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image
6 Pages
Term Paper

Music

Counter Culture the 1960's Refers

Words: 1548
Length: 6 Pages
Type: Term Paper

This counterculture movement was greeted with enormous publicity and popular interest, and contributed to changes in American culture (Law pp). Legacies of this era include "a willingness to challenge…

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image
7 Pages
Term Paper

Art  (general)

Counter-Culture 1955-1975 Pamphleteering Between the

Words: 2071
Length: 7 Pages
Type: Term Paper

It opposed traditional art that had been an elitist, intellectual, classy entertainment. Now it became something popular, accessible to the common people, centered on simple everyday objects that had…

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image
3 Pages
Essay

Business - Miscellaneous

Merchandise Sears or Wal-Mart Cannot

Words: 897
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Since the supply is being specifically restricted, only a price increase could occur. Thus, creating exclusivity creates value to the seller. The third reason why exclusivity is valuable is…

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image
3 Pages
Term Paper

Business

Urban Outfitters Sears or Wal-Mart

Words: 926
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Term Paper

Exclusivity for these groups signals uniqueness. In a creative and individualistic society such as America's, uniqueness has cachet and value to the consumer, so any fashion item that…

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image
7 Pages
Essay

Government

Movement the Cold War of the Communist

Words: 2971
Length: 7 Pages
Type: Essay

Movement The Cold War of the communist and the capitalist countries gay way to spying worldwide, together with the political and military meddling in the inside matters of the…

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5 Pages
Term Paper

Music

Hippy Is an Establishment Label

Words: 1527
Length: 5 Pages
Type: Term Paper

Drug use patterns changed from soft and psychedelic drugs like cannabis and mushrooms to harder drugs like barbiturate pills and heroin. The focus on the hippie movement also…

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image
4 Pages
Case Study

Business

Urban Outfitters Case Study Urban Outfitters Has

Words: 1592
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Case Study

Urban Outfitters Case Study Urban Outfitters has defined a highly differentiated and unique shopping experience, supported by the eclectic and highly varied store layouts and merchandise strategy. This approach to…

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image
4 Pages
Case Study

Business

Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study Explain Why

Words: 1562
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Case Study

Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study Explain why Sears or Wal-Mart cannot effectively create a trendy counterculture image The reasons for stores like Urban Outfitters to be able to create such a…

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8 Pages
Thesis

Sports - Women

Sixties A Time of Change

Words: 2263
Length: 8 Pages
Type: Thesis

The change was not all positive, however. Bailey notes that the social and psychological transformation that followed women working outside the home "mounted to tidal-wave proportions" (1020). hile…

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image
4 Pages
Book Report

Literature

Kerouac the Friendship at the

Words: 1314
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Book Report

" (Cresswell, p. 249) In a manner, this also points us toward a more direct consideration of the friendship around which this novel revolves. In the relationship between Sal and…

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