8. ECONOMIC CHANGES
The Economic Expansion of 1950s
Important Advances in Technology
Massive Improvements in Material Life
Commercialization
The Consumer Society
12. THE SWINGING
SIXTIES
«People today are still
living off the table scraps
of the sixties. They are
still being passed around
- the music and the
ideas.»
Bob DYLAN
13. THANK YOU!
Feryal ÇİÇEK BİLGİN
MARMARA UNIVERSITY
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
DEPARTMENT
feryalcicek@gmail.com
Editor's Notes
This old saying may not tell us what happened in the 60s, however, it still provides an insight into “how” it happened. Although it primarily addresses the excessive drug abuse it also refers to the decade’s hectic atmosphere marked by rapid and unprecedented change. To many, this is the decade which made the world we know today possible for better or worse. That is, the world turned into something entirely different from that of previous decade in the 60s through the changes experienced in social, economic, and cultural life.
I would like to show you a short video before we move forward with the social changes to give you an idea about what the 60s were about. OK. Let’s watch the video, then talk about the 60s.
This quote is taken from the most prominent speech of Martin Luther King. The speech is actually known to many as the «I have a dream» speech. What he basically says is he has a dream that one day black people of the USA will have the same rights with the white citizens of the country. The quote also captures the zeitgeist of the 60s perfectly.
Socially, the 60s were marked by movements that challenged the dominant political ideology and established values of the society. The Civil Rights Movement in the USA that basically demanded equal and fair opportunies for the black population under the leadership of a young reformist Martin Luther King and the anti-war protests directed at the USA for Vietnam War contributed to the inherent optimism of the era. These movements strengthened an entire generation’s faith in a better society and that it can be achieved through “peace, love and music". This was the generation of baby boomers (People born during the post World War II baby boom) who rejected the old ways of their parents and started a counterculture movement. The counterculture movement was shaped by the idea that the institutions, morals and standards of the 50s (family, religion, education etc) were only to limit one’s individuality. This idea of individualism was given an impetus by the advent of “the Pill”(contraceptives). The Pill effected the society in two ways. First of all, it let the women take control of their bodies and liberated them in a way to reject the traditional female roles. Women actively sought other opportunities as equals to men in social and work life which resulted in women’s movement. The Pill also opened the way to extramarital, casual sex (known as the sexual revolution) which would alter the way “the family” as an institution was viewed forever. The social life was being reshaped by a new generation of young people who tried to set themselves free from the conformist and sterile lifestyle their parents had adopted.
Economically, the 60s were the decade where a consumption driven, materialistic, lavish lifestyle took over. As a result of the economic expansion of the 50s, the consumer society reached its peak in the 60s. Important advances in technology (television, extended and long-play records, transistor radios, electronic synthesizers, modernized telephone systems;advanced consumer products such as refrigerators and washing-machines etc) and massive improvements in material life introduced new needs and wants. Advertising was used aggressively. Infact, the 60s were the first full decade where people were exposed to an explosion of advertising.
New goods, new cars, new houses… Infinite optimisim was at work in economic lives of people as well. “Pleasure today, payment tomorrow!” was made possible as “hire purchase” and “credit card” took over. It did not take long before people realized practically everything could be commercialised from art to ideas. People started to buy things for pleasure rather than out of need. Clothing (fashion),for example, became one of the major spending items as being “hip” and looking stylish came to be associated with individualism and expressing oneself.
This was the phrase uttered quite often in the 60s to urge people to embrace cultural changes through the use of psychedelics and by detaching themselves from the existing conventions and hierarchies in society.
Culturally, the 60s were also a decade of change. There was the new Youth Culture (Hippies) who believed in sharing with friends, whether it was food or a joint to start with. They adopted a new lifestyle, the most obvious signs of which were free love, long hair, tie-dye, sex, drugs and rock’n roll. The Hippies also wanted to expand their conciousness and to do so they vastly experimented with psychedelic drugs such as LSD and marijuana. This was the “psychedelic movement” which was chracterised by unity,the breaking down of boundaries, the heightening of political awareness, empathy with others, and the questioning of authority. The 60s also saw an explosion of music styles, embracing folk, rock, surf, soul and protest music. New movements emerged in the arts, and movies, theater, books, comedy and television began to reflect the changes in the soicety. Pop-art was one of the new art forms that reached its peak during the 60s. It employed aspects of mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects which exploded throughout the 60s. The 60s were “literally” swinging in terms of cultural changes.
All in all, many scholars believe today that the people of the 60s, knowingly or unknowingly, made a choice in the course of the 60s and they chose today’s world with all its institutions. The only thing we know for sure that what happened in the 60s did not stay in the 60s. As Bob Dylan, one of the most influential song writers of the 20th century, puts it in a rather satirical way: "People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around-the music and the ideas."
