Topic 2, Lesson 13: How did youth culture change in the 1960s?

Topic 2, Lesson 13: How did youth culture change in the 1960s?

1960s Youth Rebellion

• As started in the 1950s, the 1960s saw a further development in what has been termed ‘youth subculture’. What does ‘youth subculture’ mean?

• What were the causes of an increased youth rebellion during the 1960s?

• Which point of technology fueled the image that the youth groups of the 1960s were violent and socially disobedient?

• What was the truth?

‘Youth subculture’ referred to the unwillingness of some young people to accept the standards and values of their elders.

A youth generation that was more inclined to assert its’ right to choose was a product of the increased living standards, spread of education and growth of leisure time during the 1960s.

Young people would clash with their parents over fashion, musical tastes and moral standards. There was also a greater questioning of previous norms around sex and drugs.

However, the media massively fueled the image that the youths of the 1960s were violent and socially disobedient.

In reality, many people outside of London were never touched by the “swinging sixties” and still lived in poverty. Also, the youths of the decade were no more violent, drunk or disrespectful than their elders.

Topic 2, Lesson 13: How did youth culture change in the 1960s?

The 1960s Permissive ‘Free Love’ and Drug Culture

• What were the contributing factors that led to the emergence of the ‘Free Love’ culture of the 1960s?

• Which generation did this ‘Free Love’ and drugs youth subculture cause concern within?

• Give some facts and statistics that support the claim that this ‘Free Love’ and drug youth subculture of the 1960s was overexaggerated by both the media and the older generation.

  Think About:

  • What youths spent most of their time doing

  • What proportion of young people were virgins when they married

  • What types of drugs young people were consuming during the 1960s

The emergence of the permissive society, the end of censorship and developments like the availability of the pill led to the emergence of ‘free love’ culture in the 1960s society. This was the short time between the availability of the contraceptive pill in 1961 and the discovery of STIs in the 1970s where people were unafraid to deviate away from social expectations of sex.

Such behavior caused a good deal of concern among the older generation.

The extent of teenage promiscuity and drug-taking was overexaggerated by both the media and the older generation.

According to a survey in 1969, young people spent more time listening to music in their bedrooms than at youth clubs or rock festivals.

Most young people were still virgins when they married or at least married the person to whom they lost their virginity.

Alcohol, tobacco and caffeine were used far more than illegal drugs.

In most areas of Britain, outside the large cosmopolitan cities, where communities were close, traditional family values and attitudes remained strong.

Topic 2, Lesson 13: How did youth culture change in the 1960s?

1960s Youth Fashions

• For a short time, which city became the capital of the fashion world?

• How did women’s fashion change during the 1960s?

• How did men’s fashion change during the 1960s?

• How did fashion aid the class divisions of the 1960s?

• How did Mary Quant influence the fashion world of the 1960s?

For a short time, London became the capital of the fashion world.

During the 1960s, it became acceptable to wear the same outfit to work and for the evening.

Women wore trousers.

Men started to wear velvets, satins and brightly coloured fabrics.

Changing fashions helped to override, or at least mask, some of the old social divisions, both between the sexes and between classes. (During the 1950s, class was reflected within fashion. Different sizes hats and blue and white collar workers).

Mary Quant was one of the most influential figures in the fashion scene of the 1960s and is best known for conceiving the mini skirt in the 1960s.

Mary Quant said: “I was making easy, youthful, simple clothes, in which you could move, in which you could run and jump, and we make them the length the customer wanted”.

Topic 2, Lesson 13: How did youth culture change in the 1960s?

1960s Youth Music

• How would teenagers listen to pop music during the 1960s?

• With what shows did the television industry respond to the demand for music during the 1960s?

• How was music made accessible to all during the 1960s?

• Which British bands became popular during the 1960s?

• Which British band influenced the US pop charts during the 1960s?

Additional Information:

• What was Woodstock?

• When was Woodstock?

• How many people were estimated to have attended Woodstock?

• How many acts performed at Woodstock?

• How does this relate to Britain in the 1960s?

Young people listened to pop music by tuning in to one of the pirate radio stations, like Radio Caroline, or from 1967, BBC Radio One.

Television responded to the demand for music in the 1960s by launching music programmes such as Ready, Steady, Go! (ITV, 1963) and Top of the Pops (BBC, 1964).

Music was made accessible to all during the 1960s by way of the new technology that allowed cheap plastic record players and LP records. Additionally, transistor radios were portable and allowed young people to listen to music in the comfort and privacy of their bedrooms.

Popular bands of the 1960s included:

• The Beatles

• The Rolling Stones

• Status Quo

• Pink Floyd

‘Beatlemania’ took off in the early 1960s and the band led a ‘British Invasion’ of the US pop charts.

Woodstock:

• 3 day hippy festival in the United States between the 15th and 18th August 1969

• 32 musical acts performed in total

• Held in Bethel, New York City on a dairy farm

• Would have been shown on UK televisions

Topic 2, Lesson 13: How did youth culture change in the 1960s?

Skinheads

• How were skinheads identifiable?

• What would skinheads wear?

• Which youth subculture of the 1950s did skinheads replace?

Skinheads and hippies were both different youth subcultures that emerged at the end of the 1960s.

Skinheads were identifiable by their white shirts, bomber jackets, shaven heads, red braces, Dr Marten boots. Skinheads evolved from the 1950s youth subculture Mods.

Topic 2, Lesson 13: How did youth culture change in the 1960s?

Hippies and Flower Power

• How were Hippies identifiable?

• Which movements did hippies embrace?

Hippies rejected the social norms and Establishment attitudes, embraced ‘Flower Power’, emphasized environmentalism, free love and peace.

Environmentalism became more prominent during the 1970s.