ABSTRACT
The Great Refusal may be either active or passive. It is active when the rebels insist on action that has clearly human, moral, or creative value: they may be activists in the more publicized civil rights movement, Peace Corps, community action committees, or antiwar demonstrations, or in the more private ways in which they choose careers of social service or aesthetic creativity rather than those associated with traditional success and the pursuit of power. The Great Refusal is passive when the rebels just let go, step down from the treadmill of time and achievement into a timeless present, the residence of sensual and contemplative delight. It is exactly the kind of revolutionary movement one would expect to emerge from the affluent society. Still, if the youth have found guidance and support among the adult world, it is nonetheless true that they are the effective vanguard of the "new class" and its Great Refusal.
