American Intellectuals In The Sixties The Struggle Between Power And Resistance

Abstract

The 1960s was a period that introduced magnificent changes to the United States, in both society and culture. Different alienated grouped wished to be acknowledged for their uniqueness. During this social turmoil, they rose in resistance against all forms of power which included a fierce hatred and mistrust towards intellectuals. These creators of ideas were deeply embedded in their technocratic services in government and were absent from the fighting scenes of civil rights movements and anti-war protests. This paper attempts to determine the precise position of the American intellectual during the 1960s. The social turmoil of this period is best explained in terms of Foucauldian concept of power relations. The interplay of power between the institutionalized intellectual and the resistance of the youth and common men embodied a new “discursive power” that characterized the stormy sixties.