Spraakverwarring in het Nieuwe Babylon: Over het probleem van een sociologische verklaring van de jaren zestig

Samenvatting

It is argued that neither Hans Righart's De eindeloze jaren zestig: Geschiedenis van een generatie-conflict ([The Endless Sixties: History of a Generation Conflict] 1995) nor James Kennedy's Nieuw Babylon in aanbouw: Nederland in de jaren zestig ([Building New Babylon: The Netherlands in the Sixties] 1995) provides clear insight into the causes of the sudden cultural upheaval of the 1960s in the Netherlands. Although both Kennedy's description of relatively understanding elites & Righart's description of a double generation gap are found valid, it is argued that the focus on either external "push" or internal "pull" factors fails to address the driving force behind the establishment of an autonomous, rebellious youth culture, ie, rock music. It is asserted that rock music was not only an expression of new values, but represented a model for a new lifestyle of hedonism, idealism, romanticism, & freedom, thus providing the new generation with a cultural format in which to develop new identities. 26 References. Adapted from the source document.