counterculture

/ˌkaʊntərˈkʌltʃər/

/ˈkaʊntəkəltʃə/

Other forms: countercultures

A group of people who do and believe things outside of what society considers normal or typical can be called a counterculture. A counterculture might organize itself around opposition to war or unusual ideas about raising children, for example.

A counterculture is at odds with, and sometimes in direct opposition to, the prevailing norms — this was the case at the beginning of the anti-war "hippie" counterculture that formed in the 1960s as a protest against US involvement in the Vietnam War. The term first emerged around this time in Theodore Roszak's 1969 book "The Making of a Counter Culture."

Definitions of counterculture

1. noun

   a culture with lifestyles and values opposed to those of the established culture
   types:

   flower power

   a counterculture of young people in the US during the 1960s and 70s

   type of:

   culture

   the tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group