ABSTRACT

A counterculture can be understood as a purposive attempt to create forms of expression and association which invert the prevailing cultural norms of a society or social formation. A counter culture typically seeks to subvert the dominant social order by drawing attention to the paradoxical content of familiar terms such as ‘freedom’. Within social movement studies the term counter culture was developed and applied to a diverse range of youth movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In North America, the Beat Generation was an important precursor with a range of authors and poets adopting stances critical of the American Dream. Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg are amongst the better-known authors and their writing influenced the work of Bob Dylan.