It Can’t Be Like It Used to Be: Informality as a Contagion of Democratization in American Culture

Abstract

The authors" purpose is to illustrate that counter cultures follow changes in democracy. While allowing more political freedom for individuals, such freedom is expressed by overtaking those rules, taboos, and mores that previously were followed when the minorities lacked that freedom. Changes occur in such topics as sexual mores, aesthetic appreciation of music, and the media. Beginning in the 1950s, American culture has changed dramatically because of changes in politics and the media. While not suggesting that this is good or bad, the authors profess that it is inevitable.