In the
1950s the Mod Movement emerged and thrived mostly in the 1960s. The Mod
Movement evolved into different subcultures. It eventually separated into the
Hard Mods. Examples of a Hard Mod group were skinheads. Skinheads, and other
subcultured groups that originated from mods, may have expressed opposition to
government. They also dressed differently, had different ideals, and a
different style altogether. In the States there was a similar subculture to
that of the mods. These were the hippies. Now there were fairly significant
differences in the looks and style but fundamentally they were very similar.
Hippies were “… those who do not fit into the mainstream.” In America, where
Communism was a big scare in the 1950s, everyone wanted to be the same. Men had
crew cuts, went to college, and wanted to get married. Hippies were extremely
different from the rest of society. Their way of life was not in accordance to
that of the average person. They thought if anything felt good, without harming
others, then they should do it. They preached love and peace at a time when the
United States was at war in Vietnam and at war with Civil Rights.
Education
in the UK was a changing the youth and culture of students. Universities such
as Sussex, Essex, Kent, East Anglia, York, and Warwick were “developing a ‘new
map of learning’, in new buildings with entirely new staff and no inherited
traditions or fixed institutional value systems.” This idea helped establish
the development of the youth subculture in London in the 1960s. Eventually
students began to protest against nuclear weapons and war in Vietnam, much like
their American counterparts. In America
many people were protesting the war. “College newspaper editors and student
body presidents at 100 universities sent a letter to LBJ informing him that
their colleagues were deeply troubled about a war…”
There
were many songs that were about the subject on the war in Vietnam and about the
society of young adults in the 60s. The Who’s hit song “My Generation” was an
anthem for the youth trying to find a place in society, and Bob Dylan’s “Blowin
In The Wind”, though not directly associated with the mods, voiced the student’s
concerns about the war - a result of what was going on during that time period.
Anderson, T.H., 2011. The
Sixties. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Charlyce Jones Owen
Grunenburg, C., Harris, J.,
2005. Summer of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in the
1960s. Liverpool, England. Liverpool University Press.
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