“Our parents' world is built on the premise that happiness is a two-car garage and a suburban home. They have traded their passion for security and their individuality for conformity. We are looking for something else—a way of living that values human connection over material accumulation. By changing our music, our lifestyle, and our minds, we are creating a new culture that rejects the Cold War consensus and the foreign policy decisions that consensus justifies.”
— Excerpt from an editorial in an underground student newspaper, 1968
The ideas expressed in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following developments during the 1960s?
- Rejection of the post-Second World War domestic consensus and growing opposition to military involvement in Vietnam.Answer
- BA continuation of the absolute isolationism and literary disillusionment characteristic of the 1920s Lost Generation.
- CThe co-optation of countercultural lifestyle choices by the conservative 'silent majority' to expand defense spending.
- DA widespread demand to replace New Deal economic regulations with federal funding for self-sufficient rural communes.
Answer
Rejection of the post-Second World War domestic consensus and growing opposition to military involvement in Vietnam.
Rejection of the post-Second World War domestic consensus and growing opposition to military involvement in Vietnam is correct because the counterculture was defined by its challenges to suburban consumerism, middle-class conformity, and the foreign policy consensus that led to the Vietnam War.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Counterculture and Youth Rebellion