What makes modern-day countercultures tick?

March 25, 2012 7:09 AM

I'm looking for a crash-course in modern-day counter-cultures around the world that have come about as a response to a crisis of capitalism or materialism. For example the recent Occupy movement but also more nascent and lesser known ones.

Typical traits of these movements might include: internet-enabled, anti-censorship, an emphasis on spirituality, artistic creativity, social and environmental awareness and peaceful protest.

Specifically I'd like to understand what worked in building and spreading these movements, what didn't, and why. Can you think of any resources - authors, sociologists, articles, websites - that are essential to understanding these topics (and preferably can be digested quickly).

Thanks!

posted by scrm to society & culture (2 answers total)

Capitalism and materialism have such different meanings and impacts in different places that your question sounds a little odd in an international context. Depending on what you are doing this research for, you might broaden your definition a bit to include anti-globalization movements, religious fundamentalism, etc...

One way to go about getting a better sense of what is out there is to browse around to international Occupy sites and see if they are affiliated with anything.
posted by ropeladder at 9:55 AM on March 25, 2012

Well, one of the central repositories of this sort of democratic power skill sets is the Open Society Foundation of George Soros, that was a key funder and intellectual backer of several of the Eastern European revolutions.

Domestically (US) a critical populist organizing force is the Alinsky-aligned Industrial Areas Foundation.
posted by dhartung at 6:10 PM on March 25, 2012