Mannheim's "Problem of Generations" Applied"

Counterculture, and Formative Factors in Socio-Historical Analysis

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze Karl Mannheim's generational approach to social history by applying it to the Boomer-led 1960s counterculture movement. This paper examines the extent and limitations of Mannheim's theory that generations can be a study of historical analysis by examining how race plays into generational cultural participation. This paper examines the Boomer's generational break from G.I and Silent Generation life and values in their dress, living conditions, and sexual practices. It also examines how race and the civil rights movement prohibited or dissuaded Black youth from participating in the counterculture movement. This paper analyzes to what extent generational study is useful in historiography when considering important variables such as race in cultural movements and participation.