Did the rebellious 1960s related to the paranoia 1950s?

Question

I think the rebellious 1960s with its beatniks, Beatles, anti-war protests and long hair was really a product of the 1950s, and late forties. Just when World War II was over. And the Cold War was starting with Russia, The young grew cynical with the nuclear weapons, first generation with tv, McCarthy's repressions and fifties "conformity", as a result of 1930s Depression and World War II. What do you think, people?

Answer 1

What an interesting question! I think that this was the first generation to have time to rebel. Previous generations were busy fighting wars, as people were still being called up to join the forces, where discipline would be instilled into them and between the wars the fight for many people was with poverty. There was no such thing as the teenager: people would leave school and immediately be expected to transform themselves into young adults, dressing in much the same way as their parents. Suddenly things became more relaxed all round and it was possible to be original, critical, nonconformist. There were many new ways of self expression and rationing was at an end in Europe -- something which had affected travel, clothing, food and even printing. Television introduced ideas and styles more directly into people's homes and suddenly there was tremendous creativity in the air. People felt that they could express themselves as they pleased rather than obey convention and duty. And to their gratification they discovered that people responded to their ideas, their songs, their writings. The fifties were the generation of the angry young men -- playrights like John Osborne and Arnold Wesker and the novelists Kingsley Amis, John Braine, John Wain, and Alan Sillitoe. By the sixties their books were being included in the school syllabus to inspire students of the next decade to take matters further. Rebellion and nonconformity became the norm.

Answer 2

Ah, that it was all that easy. The beatniks, first off, were in the 1950s because there was already a non-conformist movement in the 1950s.

If I were to point to several key reasons why the 1960s exploded as they did, I would point to 1) the baby-boomers were just getting into their teens and twenties and they knew nothing about WW II except from the worn out cliches of their parents. 2) the invention of the birth control pill; not until the 1960s was there a virtual guarantee that pregnancy would not happen until the pill came along, and that wasn't until the 1960s.

Answer 3

No: a direct result of the overindulgence of the offspring of those traumatized by The Depression & then war.
These parents wanted their children to have and experience what most of them were deprived of (as a generation). The prosperity and promise of the post war development coupled by a bourdgeoning understanding of mass marketing techniques ( aided by the "miracle of television), fanned cunsumerism, the latest religion of the mid-20th century.

Answer 4

the rebels of the 50s-60s oddly enough resembled the "flappers" of the 20s. new found freedoms such as sex and drugs and anti-war sentiments reflected the car and radio of the 20s. both followed major wars and conformity, although there were non-conformist groups about...

Answer 5

Actually, throughout history you see periods of strict conservative lifestyle, followed by a rebellion of individual expression. Exactly like the 1960's, and also like the Age of Reason was followed by the Romantic Era.

Answer 6

I agree, I wonder what the post-Bush rebels will be like?

And I'm VERY VERY ANXIOUS to find out and JOIN IN TOO!

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