|
(1960s)
The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969.The term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends which occurred roughly during the years 1956–1974[citation needed] in the west, particularly United States, Britain, France, Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, and West Germany. Social and political upheaval was not limited to these countries, but included such nations as Japan, Mexico, and others. In the United States, "The Sixties", as they are known in popular culture, may have lasted from about 1963 to 1971. The term is used descriptively by historians, journalists, and other objective academics; nostalgically by those who participated in the counter-culture and social revolution; and pejoratively by those who perceive the era as one of irresponsible excess and flamboyance. The decade was also labeled the Swinging Sixties because of the libertine attitudes that emerged during this decade. Rampant drug use has become inextricably associated with the counter-culture of the era, as Jefferson Airplane co-founder Paul Kantner mentions "If you can remember anything about the sixties, you weren't really there." The 1960s have become synonymous with all the new, exciting, radical, and subversive events and trends of the period, which continued to develop in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and beyond. In Africa the 1960s was a period of radical political change as countries gained independence from their European colonial rulers, only for this rule to be replaced in many cases by civil war or corrupt dictatorships. Some commentators[1] have seen in this era a classical Jungian nightmare cycle as a rigid culture, unable to contain the demands for greater individual freedom, broke free of the social constraints of the previous age through extreme deviation from the norm. Booker charts the rise, success, fall/nightmare and explosion in the London scene of the 1960s. This does not alone however explain the mass nature of the phenomenon.
|
1960s Subcategories
1960s Articles
|
|
