Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the selfhood of every one of its members.
The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion.
It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature

The term we know as culture involves the knowledge, language, customs, values and material objects that are transmitted from generation to generation in human societies. Culture is essentially a survival mechanism for different groups and individuals. At the opposite end of the spectrum, countercultures strongly reject the values and the norms of the culture. These countercultures seek alternatives to the accepted cultural behaviors and values.

Timothy Leary's "Evolution of Countercultures" explores the various stages of countercultures since the 1950's, beginning with the Beats (1950-1965). The Beats were a laid back counterculture who were largely cynical but very artistic. Their primary interests were poetry, drugs, and jazz. They did not subscribe to the norms of politics in that day; rather they were dubbed "anti-establishment." Their Buddhist-based religion boasted tolerance of racial and gay rights (373).

"Angel", a Brooklyn College student, was selected
Miss Beatnik of 1959. She is posing on MacDougal Street,
in front of a 1931 Chevrolet Independence wood-wheeled roadster.
Miss Beatnik is now a psychoanalyst, mother of three, and a grandmother.
(American Museum of Beat Art)

The Hippies (1965-1975) were a peaceful and idealistic group of people. They not only accepted the chaotic nature of the universe, but they welcomed it by using pot, LSD and other hallucinogens. The Hippies were anti-high tech, anti-intellectual and anti-establishment. This intuitive counterculture was free love oriented. Occasionally, these passive people would become activitsts about important issues such as the Vietnam war and gay rights ( 373).

"Peace symbol, common Hippie name for the nuclear disarmament symbol
coined by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1958. (Radical Times)
What it actually represents is the composite of semaphore flag
signals for the letters N (flags to the sides) and D (one flag up and one flag down)
for nuclear disarmament.
(Psychedelic 60's)

Timothy Leary describes the Cyberpunks (1975-1990) as a group of angry and cynical grunge gods. They are particularly gloomy and feel undervalued by society. Cyberpunks enjoy hard drugs and various forms of music, from heavy metal to rap. They are known for their elaborate tattoos and numerous body piercings. Although cyberpunks appear alienated and skeptical, they are high-tech people with a great affinity for electronic mechanisms (373-374).

Cyberpunk is one of the leading influences on literature and the arts today.
Its rapid development and turning points have created a new
and challenging society. William Gibson's Neuromancer
and Count Zero, as well as Neil Stephenson's Mirrorshades, a cyberpunk anthology,
are examples of influential cyberpunk literature.
(CBGB)

The new millennium brought about what Leary termed the New Breed (1990-2005). The tolerant New Breed is alert, cheerful and eclectic. They are super high tech and hang out on the internet. The smart drug of choice for people in this group is ecstasy. The New Breed also enjoy psychedelic parties called Raves, which, they believe, contribute to their open-mindedness (374).

(HyperReal Rave Archives)

Leary speaks of each of us getting control of our own lives and explains maturity as the ability to think for ourselves (374). Certainly this is what the countercultures of the past 50 or so years have done. They have gone against the grain, right past the mainstream of society, and floated into a whirlpool of alternative lifestyles. Although the various countercultures have their differences, their main themes over the years have been constant: "Self-this and Self-that" (366).

American Museum of Beat Art. 2000. <http://www.beatmuseum.org>.

"The Antiwar Movement of the 1960's." 1999. Radical Times. <http://library.thinkquest.org/27942>.

CBGB Online: Home of Underground Rock. 2000-2001. <http://www.cbgb.com>.

The Hyperreal Rave Archives. 1999-2000. <http://www.hyperreal.org/raves>.

Leary, Timothy. "Evolution of Countercultures." CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 364-374.

"Psychedelic '60s." 1998. The University of Virginia <http://www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties>.

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