HOW USEFUL IS THE TERM CULTURAL REVOLUTION essays

HOW USEFUL IS THE TERM CULTURAL REVOLUTION essays HOW USEFUL IS THE TERM CULTURAL REVOLUTION I propose to define and to argue the question "How useful is the term Cultural Revolution when applied to the Sixties?" My objective is to include examples from history, history of science and religion. Let us first consider Arthur Marwicks decision to periodise the sixties from 1954 to 1975 and Eric Hobsbawms periodisation (within his book Age of Extremes, written in 3 parts) with the sixties contained in the Golden Age. These dates of periodisation are certainly interesting hypothesis. War dominated the culture existing at the beginning of the 20th Century, i.e. the 1914-18 War, followed a few years later by the World War II 1939-45. Europe and Britain suffered massive losses of life. Then came the spread of Communism after the World War II. America became paranoid about the spread of Communism, and because of this entered into a war with Vietnam; with disastrous consequences; they lost hundreds of thousands of young men; and completely failed to stop the spread. The Vietnam war came to an end through people power. Country-wide mass protests were held; people were sickened by the numbers of lives lost, and they questioned the futility and morality of war Then came th e many threats of global annihilation by the so-called super powers (America and Russia). In Britain, children born at the end of the World War II were brought up in a stultifying economic and cultural environment. They were taught not to question; "seen and not heard.". Adherence was given to the churches strict moral teachings; and the class system was still very deeply entrenched in society. Sex was not discussed openly; therefore, many young people were sexually inexperienced and had little or no knowledge of contraception. Young unmarried women who became pregnant outside marriage were ostracised. The working classes at this time wer...