ABSTRACT
The term ‘counterculture’ was coined in the 1960s, largely in response to the emergence of middle-class youth movements (such as the hippies), to refer to groups that questioned the values of the dominant culture. While centring on an opposition to the Vietnam War, the hippie counterculture also expressed its dissatisfaction with the values and goals of capitalism, such as consumerism, the work ethic and a dependence on technology. In general, the concept of counterculture may now be extended to the values, beliefs and attitudes of any minority group that opposes the dominant culture, but more precisely, does so in a relatively articulate and reflective manner. Thus, at its emergence, the Christian religion was a counterculture, in opposition to the dominant Jewish and Roman cultures. In the early period of British capitalism, the Quakers and the Methodists represented countercultures in opposition to the dominant values of Anglicanism. (See also subculture, youth culture.) [AE] Further reading: Hill 1975; Roszak 1968; Yinger 1982.
