To 50 years of 1968: critical theory and counterculture in México

Abstract

The year of 1968 was fundamental for social movements in the world, 50 years away it is required to have different views on the theoretical postulates that influenced the collective actions that different sectors mainly youth carried out. A concept that is essential to understand the year of 1968 is that of counterculture. To study it, it is necessary to know the influence of the critical theorists of Frankfurt in social movements. Critical Theory addressed various problems in its time, it was fundamental for the emergence in its critique of bourgeois rationalism and technocratic totalitarianism. During the first two decades of the 21st century, organizations, collectives, groups that have taken up the banner of counterculture movement have emerged, collective actions have been generated in which the cultural factor has been a banner of struggle, in this sense there has been a new debate on the relevance of the definition of counterculture. This essay deals with the theoretical relationship and the influence of the Frankfurt School for the definition. The methodology followed in this work has to do with a historical review and a critical analysis of documents that take up the conceptual discussion between Critical Theory and counterculture in particular the proposal by Theodore Roszak is reviewed and the influence of Marcuse on the social movements of the 60s, so it is concluded that the relationship between both concepts is important for the study of social movements of 1968.