ABSTRACT
We have argued that counter cultures arise in rich societies. But they are not simple and direct reactions to unprecedented wealth and new means of production : they are neither ascetic withdrawal out of surfeit and revulsion, nor joyous abandon at the prospect of still greater abundance. Counter cultures arise with steep population growth and intensive migration associated with great economic transformations. In these circumstances traditional social bonds are disrupted and old statuses brought into question. The counter culture is hungry for rootedness and community but lives a life of improvization in loose, shifting social networks. The counter culture is not alienated, but anomie.
