Still Working Toward the Dream

This week’s examples of counter- and subcultures illustrate the vast differences between the counterculture movements of the 1960’s and the milder, but still insistent cultural movements of today.
I suspect that, rather than causing society to progress, as those in the movements hoped that they would, ‘60’s counterculture movements have instead brought about a backlash of consumerism and environmental degradation, within mainstream society. As Hebdige points out, subcultures have to find some middle ground between the dominant culture and the parent culture, and both of these were fairly liberal by the end of the ‘60’s. This is not to say that there has not been significant progress among subcultures today, as a result of the groundwork laid by these movements.
Radical environmental subcultures like Earth First! are pushing the boundaries of legal expressions of dissatisfaction , but they have not had the impact upon mainstream consciousness that commune dwellers 40 years ago might have desired. An increased open-mindedness about spirituality, as opposed to a cultural insistence upon religious affiliation, has allowed the expansion of faith practices. The feminist movement, as well, has opened the door for women to pursue careers in most areas, although they must still work harder to succeed than their male counterparts.
With the advent of the Information Age, we, as a society, expect immediate results when we express ourselves politically through counterculture. There isn’t much of that sort of expression here in North America, (although there is some),but it was certainly evident in Egypt earlier this year, when a corrupt government toppled within weeks of a plea on YouTube by Asmaa Mafouz, a dissident Egyptian woman.
Canada is rife with subcultures; groups who want to have the freedom to live without pollution, who choose to have their babies at home, or grassroots organizations who are dissatisfied with the political climate of the country-not necessarily counterculture groups, because Canada is not that radical, but subcultures, all the same, who are trying to secure new freedoms.