History of International Politics - Assignment Example

After the 2nd World War, Europe faced famine and an economic crisis. The United States, through the Marshall Plan, proposed to rebuild the continent in the interest of a healthy world economy and political stability.

Counterculture refers to a group whose beliefs are different from those of the common majority (Misiroglu, Gina, p.24). The Free Speech Movement at the University of California: A socially fortunate group of students started identifying themselves as having different interests about the requirements of practices and interests of the university’s corporate sponsors.

The Vietnam War: the younger generation viewed itself as a class that wished to create a diverse society.

The Beatles: New cultural forms emerged to oppose the old cultures. The Beatles rock band is an example of such cultural forms that rapidly evolved to mold and reflect the youth’s cultural emphasis on experimentation and change.

Civil Rights Movements: The African-American Civil Rights Movement relied on religious faith that was applied to solve America’s obstinate racial problems.

The counterculture youth rejected their parents’ cultural standards, particularly racial segregation and initial widespread support for the Vietnam War.

The hippies: the hippie counterculture’s primary tenet was that life was all about being happy, and not about what others thought they should be. They did not consider the consequences that their actions bore. They sought to replace the dominant mainstream with a Utopian society.

 Countercultural ideas were embraced differently by different groups. Student movements viewed these ideas as platforms for airing their concerns. They aimed for an overhaul of the current systems that ran schools. The black power appreciated the countercultural ideas. They felt that they had been oppressed for a long and wished to mitigate racism. They sought equal opportunities in the new systems. The new left (activists, educators, et al) utilized confrontational tactics to break the older ideologies. They were concerned with antiwar, feminist, and ecological issues. The anti-Vietnam war groups opposed the Vietnam War. They used countercultural ideas to expose a deep schism within American society. Read More