Subculture and Counterculture

It may seem that defining the term subculture is simple but it turns out to extremely problematic.
Investigators of this phenomenon encountered numerous problems dealing with it. Originally subculture
was mainly associated with pathology, social maladjustment, the dismantling of existing standards or the
primitive way of participation in culture. The term subculture was mainly used to describe pathological
groups. In sociology, mainly American, subculture also described ethnic groups, religion and even
professional group or simply the components of culture.
According to Ferracuti (1966), subculture is an ambiguous term, since it is used by anthropologists and
sociologists in numerous contexts. The prefix sub leads one to a conclusion that it is only a part of a
culture as a whole; it does not indicate that subculture is separate from the community, although it may be
treated as such if it is highly incompatible with the commonly accepted value system.
Subculture itself is associated with insignificant groups within society, behaviours and attitudes
presented by them. Such groups may be type of entertain of excitement (Matza 1964) as well as revolt
against culture of dominant social class.
A subculture is a set of distinctive values, norms and practises within a larger culture.
Some subcultures set themselves apart quite radically by rejecting cultural values adopted
by the most people in a society(Furze 2012). Numerous subcultures have begun informal
movements against establishment ideologies.(Craik 2009). The hippie movement fits the
definition since these group of people rejected current political and sociological views and
they
protested
mainly
against
the
government
of
the
USA.
However, hippies are very often considered as counterculture, which is a radical form of
subculture. Countercultures reject core values adopted by the majority of people in a
society(Furze 2012) as hippies who were against wider values and lifestyles. For example,
they preferred living in communities than in a big city or town. They were also for sexual
freedom, drug use and living without modern conveniences. They rebelled against
consumerism which, they claimed, led to environmental degeneration( Furze 2011). To
show their membership of a particular subculture they were particular type of clothing and
listened to a particular type of music which distinguished them from the society. Finally, it
could be noticed that hippies fit both definitions of subculture and counterculture.

the roots of the hippie movement in The USA can be found in the 1940's after World War Two. After two
world wars and a depression in just thirty years, an anti-establishment movement began, especially in
New York. People wanting to break away from society's values placed on them. One of the fathers of this
movement was the poet Allen Ginsberg. They began to express their frustration by a written word. Their
poetry was often performed to music. This is probably the source of the name given them, The Beats,
or The Beat Generation. Other versions say that it emerged from the word beaten. The movement had
spread during the 50's. Numerous gathering places appeared, such as coffee houses and jazz clubs, where
they were meeting and sharing their thoughts and feelings. They were propagating an ideas of
nonconformity and individualism LINK
t can be easily noticed that hippie ideology and culture are extremely characteristic and due to that easily
noticeable. As a group, they followed certain number of rules even if they claimed to be totally free in all
possible areas. Important aspect is where their basic outlooks came from. According to the article, Their
unique combination of hedonism and morality depended on the spin they placed on the generation gap
that separated them from their elders: in high moral gear, hippies projected every conceivable social and

ethical defect of society onto their parents--the generation who, having survived depression and war,
clung to middle-class prosperity and values like drowning sailors to a life vest. (Binkley 2002). That
quotation clearly shows where the roots of their ideology were. Simply, the youth generation of that time
strongly wanted to gain a disconnection from their parents realities by creating their own way of life.
There can be found also another source that describes them in an adequate manner, They changed the
traditional customs, they questioned concepts of the family, religion, statehood, education, economical
success and career, they laughed at ideals of small town residents about capitalistic professional
prosperity and freedom based on well-being. They redefined the concept of love, social relations, they
also gave a new sense to the ideas of being and acting. They offered new, authentic quality of life to
those, who had enough of the lifestyle imposed by their parents, of duties, school and work () (Justyna
Teodorczyk 2011: 125). Within her book we can also find a quotation of another author, who says,
Smile instead of discipline and bed instead of hard work (Berezowski 1982: 11).
Main concepts in a straightforward approach that hippie claimed for were peace, freedom, mind
expansion, activism, music, spirituality and vegetarianism. They were also inevitably connected with
taking drugs and sexual liberty, what seems to be an overdose of freedom. There are numerous other
aspects that can be connected with hippies, such as communities that they lived in, specific appearance,
Woodstock festivals, relaxed approach towards everything or psychedelic art. It has to be admitted that
they not only created wide range of cultural background for themselves, but also left a great amount of
artistic heritage for next generations. A great example of hippie approach towards life may be seen in
comic pictures that were famous at that times, as pictures of Zap commixes that were popular
underground printings of 60 and 70.
In brief, hippie movement undeniably brought up new attitudes towards the life, making it more colorful
and joyful for the generation of 60 and 70. The truth is, that those people needed some happiness in
their life, after sad war experiences of their parents. According to that, To be a hippie you must believe
in peace as the way to resolve differences among peoples, ideologies and religions. The way to peace is
through love and tolerance. Loving means accepting others as they are, giving them freedom to express
themselves and not judging them based on appearances. This is the core of the hippie philosophy (Stone
1999). Their concept of existence was simple to live your life as you want to, do everything that you
fancy, but mainly not to harm neither others nor the environment. Moreover, according to Hippies, no
matter what is happening around you and how many problems you have got at a particular time Dont
worry, be happy (Bobby McFerrin 1988).

Two major factors can be considered as the most important for the movement's spread : music and war
in Vietnam against which The Beats strongly opposed. The Beats turned into Hippies and took the
movement out of the New Yorks coffee shops and clubs and on to the campuses around the country. The
first centre of the movement was Berkeley. There were protests and demonstrations against war, injustice
and racism caused by the movement. Many of the rioters were arrested. The common goal of the hippies
was peace. As an official date of the birth of the hippies we can assume the 14th of January, 1967 when
The Nord's First Human Be-in took place in San Francisco. Timothy Leary, a professor fired from
Harvard, and an LSD enthusiast gave a speech to the young people during the festival. He introduced a
new era of love and new religion based on Zen Buddhism, instead of worshiping money. Be-in was
first and most important hippie festival during which the world heard the slogans which became symbolic
for the hippie movement. From this point the whole, great revolution had begun LINK A subculture is
just as it soundsa smaller cultural group within a larger culture; people of a subculture are part of the
larger culture, but also share a specific identity within a smaller group.
Thousands of subcultures exist within the United States. Ethnic and racial groups share the language,
food, and customs of their heritage. Other subcultures are united by shared experiences. Biker culture
revolves around a dedication to motorcycles. Some subcultures are formed by members who possess

traits or preferences that differ from the majority of a societys population. The body modification
community embraces aesthetic additions to the human body, such as tattoos, piercings, and certain forms
of plastic surgery. In the United States, adolescents often form subcultures to develop a shared youth
identity. Alcoholics Anonymous offers support to those suffering from alcoholism. But even as members
of a subculture band together, they still identify with and participate in the larger society.
Sociologists distinguish subcultures from countercultures, which are a type of subculture that rejects
some of the larger cultures norms and values. In contrast to subcultures, which operate relatively
smoothly within the larger society, countercultures might actively defy larger society by developing their
own set of rules and norms to live by, sometimes even creating communities that operate outside of
greater society.
Cults, a word derived from culture, are also considered counterculture group. The group Yearning for
Zion (YFZ) in Eldorado, Texas, existed outside the mainstream, and the limelight, until its leader was
accused of statutory rape and underage marriage. The sects formal norms clashed too severely to be
tolerated by U.S. law, and in 2008, authorities raided the compound, removing more than two hundred
women and children from the property.
The Evolution of American Hipster Subculture
Skinny jeans, chunky glasses, and T-shirts with vintage logosthe American hipster is a recognizable
figure in the modern United States. Based predominately in metropolitan areas, sometimes clustered
around hotspots such as the Williamsburg neighborhood in New York City, hipsters define themselves
through a rejection of the mainstream. As a subculture, hipsters spurn many of the values and beliefs of
American culture, preferring vintage clothing to fashion and a bohemian lifestyle to one of wealth and
power. While hipster culture may seem to be the new trend among young, middle-class youth, the history
of the group stretches back to the early decades of the 1900s.
Where did the hipster culture begin? In the early 1940s, jazz music was on the rise in the United States.
Musicians were known as hepcats and had a smooth, relaxed quality that went against upright,
mainstream life. Those who were hep or hip lived by the code of jazz, while those who were
square lived according to societys rules. The idea of a hipster was born.
The hipster movement spread and young people, drawn to the music and fashion, took on attitudes and
language derived from the culture of jazz. Unlike the vernacular of the day, hipster slang was
purposefully ambiguous. When hipsters said, Its cool, man, they meant not that everything was good,
but that it was the way it was.

Figure 3.7.
In the 1940s, American hipsters were associated with the cool culture of jazz. (Photo courtesy of
William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress)

By the 1950s, the jazz culture was winding down and many traits of hepcat culture were becoming
mainstream. A new subculture was on the rise. The Beat Generation, a title coined by writer Jack
Kerouac, were anticonformist and antimaterialistic. They were writers who listened to jazz and embraced
radical politics. They bummed around, hitchhiked the country, and lived in squalor.
The lifestyle spread. College students, clutching copies of Kerouacs On the Road, dressed in berets,
black turtlenecks, and black-rimmed glasses. Women wore black leotards and grew their hair long. Herb
Caen, a San Francisco journalist, used the suffix from Sputnik 1, the Russian satellite that orbited Earth in
1957, to dub the movements followers Beatniks.
As the Beat Generation faded, a new, related movement began. It too focused on breaking social
boundaries, but also advocated freedom of expression, philosophy, and love. It took its name from the
generations before; in fact, some theorists claim that Beats themselves coined the term to describe their
children. Over time, the little hipsters of the 1970s became known simply as hippies.
Todays generation of hipsters rose out of the hippie movement in the same way that hippies rose from
Beats and Beats from hepcats. Although contemporary hipsters may not seem to have much in common
with 1940 hipsters, the emulation of nonconformity is still there. In 2010, sociologist Mark Greif set
about investigating the hipster subculture of the United States and found that much of what tied the group
members together was not based on fashion or musical taste or even a specific point of contention with
the mainstream. All hipsters play at being the inventors or first adopters of novelties, Greif wrote.
Pride comes from knowing, and deciding, whats cool in advance of the rest of the world. Yet the habits
of hatred and accusation are endemic to hipsters because they feel the weakness of everyones position
including their own (Greif 2010). Much as the hepcats of jazz era opposed common culture with
carefully crafted appearances of coolness and relaxation, modern hipsters reject mainstream values with a
purposeful apathy.
Young people are often drawn to oppose mainstream conventions, even if in the same way that others do.
Ironic, cool to the point of non-caring, and intellectual, hipsters continue to embody a subculture, while
simultaneously impacting mainstream culture.

Figure 3.8.
Intellectual and trendy, todays hipsters define themselves through cultural irony. (Photo courtesy of
Lorena Cupcake/Wikimedia Commons)

A lot of people are eager to link up with something beyond, reaffirm their connections with greater
forces beyond this mundane daily life.. But if they make us feel better about ourselves, and by
extension others around us, the magic works. We are wearing our dreams

[Tattooing is] a handicap in that its expensive, painful and potentially dangerous. But the
elaborate tattoos of the Marquesan warrior, the Japanese Yakuza and the American biker have
something in common: they advertise the fact that the owners of the tattoos have money, can
endure pain, are deadly serious, and will be dangerous adversaries in battle. And a warrior who
can win by intimidation instead of fighting his enemy will live to come home and father children.

Subcultures often begin in an effort to rebel against the overall values of society,
The stigmatization of tattoo is also connected to its rise in popularity among subcultures in
Europe and United States from the middle of twentieth century onward. The late 1950s and
early 1960s witnessed the emergence of a number of youth subcultures across Europe,
North America and English-speaking world. Changing social mores and economic booms
facilitated the growth of these subcultures. Adherents expressed alternative values and
interests through music, clothes and the re-emergence of tattoos. One of the first
subcultures that embraces tattooing was bikers and, most notoriously among them, the
Hells Angels. Other subcultures that emerged during this period had rather different values
but, nonetheless, body design played a important role. For hippies,. Body painting in floral,
psychedelic, and colourful designs was popular, and for some this extended to tattooing.
The punk movement embraced some of the most visual and total rejections of the norms of
mainstream culture. Punk wore ripped, often homemade ensembles fashioned from various
clothing, dyed their hair, spiked and shaved it into elaborate shapes; female punks adopted
an aggressive and masculine behaviour, an unfeminine body language and behaviour.
Tattooing became an integral part of punk culture, and both men and women had the
names and icons of their favourite punk bands or other countercultural mottos and images
inked onto their flesh. The tattoos were made in an unprofessional way, at home, having a
blotchy appearance and seemed like forms of self-mutilation. The most offensive form of
tattooing was was the use of Nazi symbols, in particular the swastika. The case of
skinheads who also wore ripped jeans, jackboots and swastika tattoos, and who carried our
organised racist and anti-Semitic attacks on propriety and violent assaults on individuals,
blurred the boundary between ironic rebellion and virulent anti-Semitism.
Other groups adopted tattooing as mark of their particular status, such as the heavy metal
bands, the rock stars of the 1970s began this trend by sporting extensive tattooing
themselves, but with the exception of punks, these new cultures of tattooing were more
acceptable, but still tattoos maintained a low status in mainstream society, associated with
subculture, and in particular with deviant, dangerous, undesirable form of aggressively and
masculinity.
The late 1980s onward witnessed a broader shift in social attitudes toward tattooing, known
as tattoo renaissance, as models, pop stars, famous actors, sport figures have started to
display tattoos on their bodies.