For years civilization has cognitively categorized generations of society with a multitude of labels. Many of these labels are used to distinguish subcultures, a concept professor, author, and subculture specialist Ross Haenfler defines as, “a social subgroup distinguishable from mainstream culture by its non-normative values, beliefs, symbols, activities, and often, in the case of youth, styles and music (Haenfler, 3).” Furthermore, these subculturalists interact and overlap with one another in addition to a variety of elements of pop culture (Haenfler, 4). One such subcultural movement consisted of young writers and artists who were dissatisfied with popular American culture post World War II. The Beatnik generation began in the early 1950’s during a time of economic and capitalist expansion (Matterson, 1). Members of this community referred to themselves at the Beatniks, and formed a subculture by creating an alternative lifestyle that promoted pleasure, individualism, and experience, allowing them to escape the uniformity of mainstream America (Gair, 6).
Post World War II America’s economy began to grow rapidly. This time was often referred to as the post World War II economic boom, an expression describing short increases in a variety of different economic markets, as well as an increase in America’s overall gross domesticated product rate. During this time, monetary inflation and unemployment rates were decreasing, while agricultural activity, television and commercial aviation were all expanding at an exponential rate. Thus the economy was booming, allied war bonds had matured and cash was being transferred from the government to private households. G.I bills allowed for an educated workforce, labor unions were formed, and America’s middle class grew with determination not to repeat the same mistakes made during the great depression (History.org). This time of prosperity allowed young adults to focus on extraneous aspects of life that had been previously over-shadowed by larger issues of war and poverty. Never before had young individual’s education and personal goals been the forefront of their concern. With the luxury of time, reflection and personal evaluation came an era of new thought and a reappraisal of the conventional structures of society (Gair, 8). Thus, the Beat Generation was born as a product of this questioning.