Anti-tradition, okay?

Counter-mainstream culture is no longer a "culture", just as the diversified anti-war movement is no longer a "movement". On the contrary, this word is used by social critics to describe the general resistance of many western young people to the values and behaviors abandoned by their parents. However, many young people accept some anti-cultural clothes, such as those involving music, fashion, slang or recreational drugs, but they do not necessarily give up their middle-class customs. Various factors gave birth to counterculture, including the growth of the American middle class after the war (counterculture despised their materialism), the widespread supply of reliable contraceptives (thus reducing the risk of one-off experiments), the increasing popularity of psychedelic drugs such as LSD (which encouraged introspection and kept away from the "heterosexual" culture), and the Vietnam War (which convinced many young people that America had lost its soul).

The deepest root of anti-mainstream culture lies in the "Beat Generation" in 1950' s, a relatively small group of unconventional intellectuals who were annoyed by the rigid orthodoxy of that era. Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and allen ginsberg supported unconventional behavior and personal rebellion, usually promoted by espresso, marijuana and mescaline.

Just as Greenwich Village in new york City has become a "beat generation", the Hite-Ashbury District in San Francisco has developed into a holy place of counterculture. The low rent in the poor areas of this city attracts many people who value community rather than luxury. As time goes by, the reputation of "Hite" attracts more young people who are curious about the emerging lifestyle. Some people left urban areas and formed rural communes loosely imitating utopian communities in the past, but these communes were rarely self-sustaining.