The 1960s cultural revolution and its impact on Belgian society

Society and Culture

The heirloom of the sixties era has been significant and decidedly pivotal for the advancement of culture and society in nations, an aspect that is referred to as civilization. These changes and modifications that the society went through made the 1960s decade to be one of the fundamental and vital periods of the twentieth century and a landmark that is forever etched. The 1960s era can be revered and given admiration as revolutionary. These changes had a major influence on not only nations in South America and Africa that were developing, but it also had a great influence in civilized nations and we choose to concentrate on Belgium (MacDonald, 2007).

The changes that the society experienced and went through at that time made the 1960s one of the fundamental transition periods of the twentieth century and significant to how culture had fashioned society to what we see in the present day. There are a number of aspects that made the sixties have such great influence. These include freedom and equality, the emergence of youth, music and pop culture and also affluence. These are the most significant elements that engendered change in the sixties and in turn had such immense influence in society and culture (MacDonald, 2007). We specifically chose to write about this particular subject because we, the authors, are of Belgian nationality and not only are we patriotic but we are very proud and honored to call Belgium our home country.

MacDonald (2007) opines that, the sixties instigated and prompted changes in the society that were quite extensive in a geographical sense, but what is all the more significant and what makes a distinction between this particular period and others is the fact that these prompted changes were also quite extensive in a demographic sense. This is in the fact that the changes had a great influence on a broader age range compared to the other decades and affected just about every societal sphere ranging from politics to pop culture (MacDonald, 2007).

Why is this the case? Why did the 1960s period have such a massive influence on society and culture in such an extensive way? This work will make an attempt to analyze the manner in which this particular decade had an influence on society and culture and particularly with reference to Belgian society and culture.

Youth, Music and the Sixties

When the term revolution is used in dialogue and discussion, it is not surprising for the general idea and storyline to shift towards the movement that went on during the Sixties period. It is imperative to take note that in the course of history, there have been several revolutions that have taken place. However, the events and occurrences that took place in the 60s decade is one that is considered as a cultural revolution and one that resounded and resonated everywhere in the globe and its influences continue to be felt up until the present day (Donnelly, 2014).

The youth culture of the Sixties made it possible for where we are contemporarily and what took place all the way since, through the subsequent eras of 70s, 80s and 90s to the end of the twentieth century (Donnelly, 2014). This particular decade has time and again been mentioned in aspects such as fashion, music as well as design. It addition, the 1960s is a time period and era that will incessantly be deemed as the time when the youth came to life and were handed a voice (Taylor, 2012).

As aforementioned, the most significant element of pop culture in the Sixties was music. For majority of the youth at the time, music became a way or channel of expressing and conveying themselves simply because barely any individual had the capability of creating a film or saving up capital to purchase guitars and commence playing professionally. For the other groups of people devoid of the musical talent and unwilling to be musicians, music was looked upon as fun and a leisurely activity and also a means of socializing (Helc, 2006).

What is more, music was considered to be a means of communicating disapproval and condemnation of a particular aspect by attending concerts of different revolutionary musicians such as Bob Dylan. In the 1960s, music stopped being perceived solely as a means of entertainment, and a new form of music emerged. This was music that communicated and conveyed a fundamental message. It encompassed songs whose lyrics were more significant than the tune or melody (Helc, 2006).

Another influential aspect in the Sixties was the element of equality and freedom. The decade attested to the cultivation and development of the human rights movement. Some of the influential movements included the feminist movement, gay movement and lesbian movement. Nevertheless, the most influential and prominent human rights movement was the fight and battle for the equality of black people in the society (MacDonald, 2007).

Important characters such as Malcom X and Martin Luther King ardently fought for the equal rights of black people or more so, what they termed as colored people. It was also in this decade that these two notable personalities who endeavored to attain equal status were assassinated. Nonetheless, MacDonald (2007) states, in consonance with popular belief that the significance of cultural instead of radical social and political liberation of black people is especially that of their music, for instance rhythm and blues, and rock and roll and the massive influence it's had on music as a whole.

One of the major influences of the Sixties period that had significant change was the emergence of the youth as a distinguishing force not only politically but also culturally. Political involvement and social action that was undertaken by college students on and off the university campuses, the status of youth-engendered styles of outfit, cleaning, communication and music, and insights of an age bracket gap representing a dissimilarity in values between persons born after the Second World War and those born prior to it contributed to the idea that age might turn out to be as significant an indicator of social identity as race, class, or gender (Lipsitz, 1994).

The social mayhems and disturbances of the sixties greatly influenced what it really meant to be the youth at that time. Music being fundamental to the experience and awareness of numerous young individuals in the sixties was an undeniable feature of the times and one that cannot be contested. According to Lipsitz (1994), music can be acknowledged and outlined as the most significant rite for the young in the sixties as the focal point of a standard of living and a counterculture that attested forcefully to the turbulations manifesting within the society.

According to Kramer (2006), with regard to the counterculture of the Sixties period, rock music was not just influential in terms of public entertainment, but also as a kind of public life. Whereas several scholars and academics have made the argument that rock music was unable to get along with civic contribution and partaking, the authors assert that in scenes of music, for instance San Francisco, in artistic posters and dancing, in publications which have been printed and on the radio broadcast, rock music serves the purpose of being a beam of light for many prevalent predicaments and quandaries of citizenship and civil society (Kramer, 2006).

As commonly as it declined and weakened into diversion and pleasure-seeking, rock music generated an environment of investigation in which the youth may well heed, contemplate, act, and sense their way through problems of public and civic communication, for instance individuality, being in the right place, authority, and democracy (Kramer, 2006). It can be considered that even at the time when disseminated by the American army to Vietnam or when socializing to youth movements internationally, anything but obscuring public life, rock music changed it into a mass-mediated means of relationship that anticipated the civics of international society.

Hippie Culture

The most influential movement of the 1960s that is linked with the youth materialized and developed in the United States. In particular, the hippie movement was in remonstration against the Vietnam War that began at the outset of the Sixties. In turn, numerous young men declined and snubbed joining the army (Sherkat and Blocker, 1994).

Instead, they departed from their households and resided in small societies with fellow young people where they desired to live in love and peace. These youths, in some sort of way, were supporters and admirers of the beat generation. They protested and campaigned against the customary and old values of their parents and the dissimilarity or variance in thinking -- a chasm that was quite difficult to bridge (Sherkat and Blocker, 1994).

The focal point of the hippie culture, that had a great influence on what Belgium is today, was centered in the state of California and more dominantly in San Francisco. Persons from all over the land thronged the city with the hope and wish that they would find there a future that was much better and a world that they deemed ideal. This particular movement had a great influence on several artists, the 'Beatles' being one of the leading lights among them.

In addition, the culture was largely linked to drugs and popular music and it was the hippies who greatly made a contribution to it, if not instigated the sexual revolution by encouraging free love. A very fashionable and representative drug associated with the movement was lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The significance of the hippie movement with regard to culture can be perceived by the fact that several films were produced which took this issue into account. These include films such as Forest Gump and Easy Rider.

Hippies personified the new-fangled and fresh supremacy that confronted and faced up to the old world order and mandate. The society in the Sixties was by and large engrossed in this battle of old predispositions as well as chauvinisms and regressive outlooks against new and broadminded outlooks. Belgium was influenced and took after Great Britain where this pressure and dissidence was experienced the most.

Therefore, taking this into consideration, it can be deemed that the Sixties was a period that amounted to the reactions of the fifties. As observed by Marwick (1945), the sixties' had great influence in the present day as it is the time when there was an attack on different characteristics such chauvinisms, stereotyped norms, cliches, and the narrow-mindedness within the society. According to MacDonald (2007), the society in the preceding period was comparable to an explosive that was about to detonate sooner or later. This particular sexual revolution in the 1960s instigated several significant changes in terms of inspiration and also had a great influence on the mood of the era. For instance, in that era, fundamental laws were enacted.

Notably, the Abortion Act made it much more conceivable for women to undertake an abortion and similarly, the enactment of the Sexual Offences Act in the period was pivotal as it terminated the imprisonment of homosexuals. As a result, the society came to be more liberal (Hecl, 2006; Marwick, 1945).

Psychedelic Period

Culture and music in the psychedelic sixties period and the music of that era had a massive impact and influence on the manner in which people express themselves in the present day period. The psychedelic epoch grew and developed out of the social awareness and perception movement brought about by an obligation to civil rights, anti-war remonstration, the ratification of recreational drugs, in addition to other issues with respect to the youth subculture (Smith, 2012).

From time immemorial, music has been at all times considered to be an indicator that not only measures but also responds to the issues and prospects of the society. These problems and issues were more often than not taken aptly represented in the lyrics of rock song tracks whereas the music itself repeatedly made use of special effects with the purpose of giving emphasis to the message in consideration. One of the prominent bands during the course of this era of psychedelia was the 'Doors'. For instance, the band in the year 1968 produced a song dubbed Unknown Soldier which encompassed a marching pause given prominence to by a drill sergeant's screamed and shouted orders and the release of guns and rifles (Smith, 2012).

Indeed, the 20th century was an era that perceived the occurrence and development of a diverse collection and array of styles of music and genres. These varied collection of styles of music and categories were all demonstratively in response to the prevailing sociopolitical problems and issues that took place at the time. It is imperative to take note that, even at times and periods when the song lyrics blatantly or obviously communicated the portrayal of social state of affairs and an appeal for improvement on such social conditions, as was so distinctive of the folk music of the sixties, music was, and always has been, fashioned by the circumstances of the superior outlook of the socio-cultural moment (Steigerwald, 1995).

The variety of styles and genres of music that occurred and materialized, especially in the final half of the twentieth century in the course of the tempestuous period of the sixties ought not to come as a disbelief, considering the variability and force of different social occurrences. There were a number of forceful impacts that formed an association of kinds and came together to generate this music that sought to question amplified government control over public's lives together with the fact that several folks' lives were getting poorer, not healthier, forced musicians to react and incorporate problems such as drugs, and they managed to do so in artistically unparalleled means. This music was, as a consequence, a reaction to the prevailing worries of the day and also a response that would form the manner individuals believed and reacted to their society (Smith, 2012).

Johnson and Stax (2006) consider psychedelic music to be relatively or comparatively in the end of the decade, would at the end of the day be a response against the conventional messages and communications of the mass media and, most of all, the reassurance to espouse and take on by all accounts American standards and principles. It would allow and enable both its bands or musicians and its audiences to come into a corresponding and similar universal appeal and one in which authority and control was neither essential nor wanted.

The winding, apparently purposeless music of the psychedelic musicians and performers was combined with lyrics that ceaselessly concentrated on irrationality, loss of control, and voyages devoid of static or permanent termination. In fact, the journeys were sprees of the imagination and awareness, not factual expeditions. The psychedelic musicians proclaimed that it was harmless to be in connection and come together with them in this immeasurable realm, and their music as a consequence attained an extensive audience, engaging to sections of the population that had themselves been disregarded and ignored (Johnson and Stax, 2006).

Present Day Influence

The Sixties period can be perceived in the contemporary society and culture in different ways. Of the aspects is liberalism and the way it changed different terms and outlooks that were prevailing at that point in time. For instance, terms such as sexism, racism and also homophobia. These terms that were before considered to be against different aspects have come to have the inclination to formulate or overstress and embellish instances of oppression (Kurtz, 2003).

Despite the fact that the term racism was at one point considered to mean the expression or sense or hate to an individual of another racial category, the term in the present day is loosely applied to mean any individual that is in direct opposition of affirmative action or also to imply any individual who is in contrast with restitutions for slavery. Once more, this stigmatization of what were once conventional open-minded situations makes a definite extent of strategic sense, but the strategies do not, in truth, elucidate the occurrence (Kurtz, 2003).

Conclusion

In the contemporary times and since a considerable while, Belgium is considered to be part of the civilized nations. It is imperative to note that these developments in not only society but also culture can be attributed to the huge influence that the Sixties had. The changes that the society experienced and went through at that time made the 1960s one of the fundamental periods of the twentieth century and also significant to how culture had society has fashioned in the present day.

In conclusion, there are a number of aspects that made the sixties have such great influence. These include freedom and equality, the emergence of youth, music and pop culture and also affluence. These are the most significant elements that initiated change in the sixties and in turn had such immense influence in society and culture (MacDonald, 2007).

The 60s decade came to be the time when the youth rose to be a political and cultural force to be reckoned with. Culturally, they began standing up for the difference in values between the older generation and their generation. Politically, they demonstrated both on and off campus to convey their thoughts on events that they did not agree to such as the war on Vietnam (Lipsitz, 1994).

The social havocs and anarchies of the era significantly influenced what it truly meant to be the youth at that time. In undertaking this, music came to be a way and means of communicating and carrying themselves. Music was deemed to be a way of supporting opposing views on events and different aspects by attending concerts and performances by artists, musicians and bands protesting (Helc, 2006).

The sixties also influenced society and culture as it was a period of fighting for freedom and equality. This is the era when human rights movement for lesbians, feminists, gays and more importantly black people in the society emerged. Pop culture came to be greatly influenced by these issues of social nature seeking political liberation and freedom of the black people in the society and more so their music gave rise to genres such as rock and roll and rhythm and blues, which forever changed music (Helc, 2006).

All these events and aspects in the Sixties period changed society and culture not only the twentieth century but fashioned it to what it has come to be in the present day. The civilized status of nations across the world and Belgium included can be attributed to the massive influences that were initiated in the sixties.