Abstract
Throughout the history, the evolution of the United States of America has been marked by numerous social and cultural movements that have influenced the course of important events and have helped shape what we know today as one of the most powerful, influential and complex countries in the world. One of these movements is The Hippie Movement of the 1960s.
The American society of the 1950s was characterized by a postwar prosperity and the confidence in America's universal mission to "share with other countries its conception of liberty, equality and democracy". Triumphant in World War II, dominating the global scene, America also "experienced phenomenal economic growth and consolidated its position as the world's richest country". The development of industry to meet peacetime needs, the expansion of the corporations and the birth of large shopping centers went hand in hand with baby boom and housing boom as well, while more and more people saw themselves as members of the middle class, switching from blue-collar to white-collar jobs. Not a privilege anymore, education turned into an affordable consumer necessity, whilst the development of television, marketing and advertising had a great impact on people's way of thinking and living.
At the same time, the essential participation of the US in the Cold War created a politically conservative climate and caused the growth of government authority. The desire of a better and better lifestyle, leading to that of having more and better goods everyday and the facilities that allowed people to immediately have what they wanted resulted in a very high level of consumerism.
