The Economic Reasons of Counter Culture Movements in the United States美国反正统文化运动的经济原因.docx

1、The Economic Reasons of Counter Culture Movements in the United States美国反正统文化运动的经济原因美国反正统文化运动的经济原因 The Economic Reasons of Counter Culture Movements in the United StatesOutlineThesis: In 1960s, the American counterculture movement，which was dominated by the youth with great influence in many areas,

2、was due to the clash of values between parents and children in different economic backgrounds and excessive technology learning in education, which taught people a lesson that great importance should be attached to the development of the spiritual world during the process of enrichment of material l

3、ife.Introduction. The Situation of Americas Postwar Economy A. Physical foundationthe enormous increase of economy B. From Industrial Economy to Post Industrial Economy1. Mass production2. The development of service industry. The Economic Reasons of the Counterculture Movement A. The Conflicting of

4、Values in Different Economic Backgrounds. 1. The realization of the true society2. The conflict between children and parents in values from different economic era3. Hedonism and consumerism in “affluent society”B. The influences of economy on school education1. Massive technology in education which

5、met the demands of the industrial production2. Social differentiation and educational justice as a result of unbalance of economic development3. Pursuit the detached education in “affluent society”C. Other Problems in Economic Development1. Environment pollution due to the economic development2. A f

6、eeling of being heart in technology governance3. Monopoly organization and corporate State. Conclusion AbstractIn the 1960s the counterculture movements took place on a large scale in the United States. Writers and scholars try to find the reasons in politics, economy, history and cultures and many

7、other areas. There is no right or wrong in the study of the reasons. However, the differences in methodology and areas do exist. The counterculture movement happened in “affluent society” among the majority of middle class children. It seems that to study the economic reasons will get nowhere. On th

8、e contrary, it is the fast developing economy that changed peoples values and lifestyles, which collided with the traditional values. The “affluent society” was oriented towards economic benefit, with a lot of using machines, and technique governance, all of which separated the warm relationship amo

9、ng people, with the substitution of the cold relationships like machines. The “flower children” were confused with the affluent society of expanded production and technological development and the Protestant Ethic between the dislocations of traditional cultural values. They faced with the serious a

10、nd profound identity crisis. Their rebellious spirit and the beat generation writers provide them with support in ideology. The economic background of counterculture movement is much similar to China. The society should pay more attention to economic development and peoples values.Key words: counter

11、culture technique management identity crisis 内容提要二十世纪六十年代的美国反正统文化运动，参与群体的巨大，表现形式与社会主流文化完全颠覆的冲突，以及对后来社会各方面的发展产生的不同程度的影响，这些都有足够的份量来引发社会各界学者对其形成原因进行分析探索。而经济作为整个社会赖以生存和发展的一大支柱，左右着人们社会价值观的变化。战后，美国的经济不同于其他国家的颓废反而是一片欣欣向荣之景。整个社会从工业到教育都以追求经济的发展目的。父辈们在经历了经济高速发展的艰苦过程后，也力图把这种观念强加给子女，可是温室里的花朵感受到的却是社会发展带来的残酷，人际关系

12、的冷漠，技术治理的功利。种种现实与社会宣扬的新教理论发生了严重冲突，于是他们不解，产生了严重的信仰危机。他们试图通过自己的反叛来引起这个病态社会的注意。在经济发展的同时不仅仅需要物质满足还需要精神同时丰裕。在追求经济快速发展的同时也要让人的内心世界跟着健康向前发展。 关键词：反正统文化 技术治理 信仰危机 . IntroductionAmerica experienced a big chaos because of the counterculture movement in 1960s. The participant of counter-culture movement used un

13、believable methods such as rock music, drug abuse, and group living to show their dissatisfaction with the reality. They were against almost all of the so-called right things in traditional values and did what they thought is good in their own values. Due to its counterculture action and the long-la

14、sting time influence in many other areas, many scholars have tried to find the reasons of counter-culture movement from different perspectives, such as the field of politics, economy, culture and history. Or they study the numbers of participants, the psychology and so on. Most of them have already

15、given us rich and clear reasons, and they are intended to give us a perfect answer. But things are not always as perfect as we expected. There are still some practical problems waiting for us to solve. As for the economic reasons, it could be separated with the other reasons and could be combined wi

16、th the reality of the society, not only in the 1960s America, but also in the modern world, such as China. The new generation is living in rich and comfortable families, they do not experience The Great Depressions and World War as their fathers have ever once experienced. So they can not understand

17、 the moral principles their parents have told them, such as diligence and competition. Otherwise, they are confused with the traditional values and the reality. The puritan religion cherished asceticism，but the whole society is pursuing the benefits as much as possible. They are fed up with the crue

18、l and lonely world and want to call for attentions in their own ways. In addition to the first part of introduction and the conclusion, in the second part, it demonstrates the background of Americas economy in 1960s, which shows the physical foundation of counterculture movement. In the third part,

19、it shows the generation gaps caused by the different economic backgrounds and the conflicting between the young generations and schools due to mass technology in education the fast developing economy. The conflict between the traditional values and the young generations values reach its peak. In the

20、 third proportion of the third part, it shows the bad impact of fast developing economy, such as environment pollution. People turned to pay attention to the living environment with the improvement of life standards. Especially for the young generations, they are much more passionate. Not to mention

21、 the technique management and monopolies company which lead the society to much more cruel and coldness. As for children, they do not only want a rich and comfortable life, but also urge for the feelings of being loved and fulfillment of mind. . The Situation of Americas Postwar EconomyA. The enormo

22、us increase of economy- physical foundationAfter world war ，America became the biggest beneficiary. Its economy underwent an enormous expansion. New York replaced London and became the financial center of the world .American dollar became the most popular currency. “The American GNP has increased fr

23、om 213.6 billion in 1945 to 502.4 billion in 1960. Sixty-four percent of American families have on the list of middle class and the unemployment rate keeps at a lower average”(Li 40).The flourishing economy provide people with physical foundation to rethink the exist culture. Abraham Maslows “hierar

24、chy of needs” may thoroughly explain these phenomena. The order of importance to need satisfaction beginning with the satisfaction of biological needs, then those of security and safety, and then self actualization needs. The “affluent society” and fierce competitions have contributed to the cruelty

25、 of the society. Just as Daniel Bell has stated in his book Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism.The economy, which plays a decisive role in promoting the foundation sector on the process of develop capitalist. It has developed into a characterized of strict hierarchy and fine division self-regulat

26、ory system after the revolution of scientific and technology and management. All the activities are strictly in accordance with “benefit principle” and the goal is to maximize profits at utmost. In this increasingly dehumanizing system, people are squeezed into a role whom are lack of personality an

27、d extremely cold. Development and change is everything. The by-product of secularization is profanity in culture. Capitalist can not provide with proper spirit to meet the mutual understanding among the work and the life of the people (Zhao 2).The cold relationships between people make them feel emp

28、ty in spirit. Not to say the “flower children”, which lived in rich society and enjoyed the fruits of their fathers efforts, they did not experience the cruel society but was fed up with the self-regulatory system and beneficiary-oriented society that they have been told to adjust to it. They are ve

29、ry pure in mind, so they want to find their ideal society by their methods.B. From industrial economy to post-industrial economyAmerican economy has experienced several stages after World War, which indicates its rapid development. Daniel Bell has analyzed its different progress and gives us a clear

30、 picture of what is the success and task in each stage.He proposed that the capitalist in pre-industrialization is to deal with natural industrialization concentrate on the machine, while in the post-industrial society, nature and machine are hidden into the background of human existence, the big pr

31、oblem stand before the society is the problems of relationships between humans and humans, human and himself (Zhao 3).So in the post-industrial society, with improved life standards and rich society, the traditional values such as diligence were not adjusted to the present society. People began to r

32、ethink their values in the present society and they want to find spiritual support in interpersonal and personal understanding of the society. On the way to find their new values, the conflict between the new and traditional values is inevitable. As Daniel Bell has proposed that the technology development and the increasing number of Middle class will bring the industrialized society into the post-industrial society. Many Middle class children have the permanent conditions to experience the change between the traditional values they have been told of and the real actio