Why was Western society as conservative as ever in 1960 and completely

baby boomers. as in a disproportionate amount of the population at the same was teenagers coming of age.

but the stereotype of everyone being a grass smoking hippy is the 60s was a bit of a meme. most people were boring squares with regular jobs who just liked listening to the Beatles and the rolling Stones.

>>1888805

That's about how long it takes for a few crops of people to go through communist indoctrination at universities, which began in the early 1960s and started taking effect towards the end of that decade.

>>1888805
Honestly, it's a bunch of things

The counter culture that grew out of anti-war protests that chose to defy the will of their conservative parents

The death of religion, at least in public life in many countries.

Anti-socialist backlash due to NATO propoganda made the old labour left unfashionable, to be replaced by what would become the Greens and liberal progressives.

The USSR may have played a role in pushing Cultural Marxism in western academia, it was within its power and honestly wouldn't be very hard.

>>1888805
>This meme
>1960 = 'Height of Conservatism'
>'69 = 'Rock Bottom'

It should be noted that by 1960 most of the old Empires had been decolonized.

Moreover, did the people of 1960 really consider themselves to be "conservative"? Most people who today identify as "conservatives" today are just old people who remember their late 50's/early 60's childhood fondly. Even worse are the sperglords who weren't even alive but still believe the bullshit their parents spew about it.

>>1889435
...maybe watch some movies from 1960 then some from 10 years later? Or look at street photos where every man before 1964 is clean cut and clean shaven? And how by 1970 even average Joes were looking like hippies?

Nobody has pointed out how by far the most powerful man in the West and the leader of the free world got assassinated EXACTLY when the very first baby boomers were turning 18. I think this one thing is the first event which made young people feel alienated, and since in 1964 40% of Americans were under 20... well...

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>>1889479
>"Maybe watch some movies from 1960"
>Movies are primary documents of a time and place that are not manipulated to political or artistic ends, but only when it buttresses the notions I've already conceived about said time or place
>personal style and appearance are indicators of political development

>>1888805
Women voting

>>1889479
Well, in the 60s the streets were mostly empty, except for carpenters, who would spend their time crafting nothing but coffins, and banditos. Nobody was clean shaven.

Ten years later, people seemed much happier, except when sharks attacked.

>>1889524
>movies exist in a vacuum and don't portray the prevailing social norms and fears of the era in which they made, they are always 100% abstract and disconnected from the times in which they are made

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>>1889550

>>1888805
I'm curious how you guys define "conservative".
"Conservative" as opposed to what?
Many people of those days were considered "liberal" and/or "progressive", but would be labelled otherwise today.
Compared to the USSR, Western society was certainly way more free.

>>1889553

>movies are always a 100% depiction of the period and society they were made in

>>1889528
>>1889563
This

>>1889553
Not the guy you're responding to, but while I agree movies do reflect the period they were made to a certain degree, and offer some clues, they are a very poor marker. Largely because most are obviously not even meant to be accurate and even the "serious" ones are influenced by political and cultural bias.
Just imagine how distorted and cartoonish the 1990-2010 period would look like if movies were used as a source.

>>1889623
I'd take them as semi historical. The same way things like Gilgamesh or the Odyssey are treated.