History 154 - Social Change in the 1960's

Few questions in American history remain as contentious as the meaning of the 1960s. Observers agree that it was a very important time, but they are deeply divided as to whether it ushered in a needed series of social changes, or whether the Sixties were a period marked mainly by excess, chaos, and self-indulgence. There is not even agreement about when the Sixties began and ended. This course will build on the concept of the "Long Sixties," a period stretching from roughly 1954 to 1975. It will focus on topics that relate to struggles for social change: the civil rights movement, the peace movement, gender and sexuality, alternative lifestyles, identity politics, the counterculture, cultural production, and debates over multiculturalism. (Gen.Ed. HS, U)