Beyond Counterculture: Towards a People’s History of Psychedelic Networks

The concept of 'counterculture' is too vague to describe the rapidly evolving communities, scenes, and networks that emerged from the religious awakening sparked by psychedelics in the mid-1960s. An alternative framework called 'psychedelicism' is proposed to better capture the nuances and complexity of both historical and contemporary psychedelic groups.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article demonstrates how “counterculture” remains a poorly defined way to talk about rapidly developing milieux, scenes, and networks born out of the religious awakening stimulated by psychedelics in the mid-1960s. It proposes an alternative framework of “psychedelicism” to better understand the nuances and complexity of historical and contemporary psychedelic communities.