Seems to me that "Hippie" referred to two separate but related phenomena. One was window dressing. The other was an entertwined set of social movements. The window dressing bit is seen among the youth of every generation as they strive toward completion of the developmental tasks of separation/individuation from parents. Form is as important as substance in this instance. And part of the process is to try to look and be as much LIKE your peers and as much DIFFERENT from your parents as you can pull off.

    The social movements arose from the Civil Rights movement, IMO. The issues around the Vietman war were issues of social justice, both with respect to who was most likely to become cannon fodder in this country, and with respect to the USA's foreign policy. Environmental issues are also essentially issues of social justice.

    Many of us young people running around in bell-bottoms and beads were not nearly as radical as we liked to think we were. I know I never participated in any protest or demonstration that I thought might get me tear-gassed or jailed, and never participated in a student strike if a I had a big test that day in class.   

      But my political and social views have continued to flow in the direction of social justice and I think that is true of many of us here. My life-style, choice of work, and community activities all reflect that. I suspect many other 'old hippies' here can say the same. Continued activism around social justice issues is the hallmark of an 'old hippie' in my book. Living a life that reflects, as much as possible, those values of social justice, is the mark of an 'old hippie.' We have grown, matured, become more thoughtful, more aware of complexity. But many of us have not 'sold out' entirely to the Establishment. Many of us made conscious choices to pursue life work and community involvements that we understood from the start would probably not allow us the same standard of living our parents achieved, or wanted for us. We recognize, (and for myself, sometimes envy) the comfort to be had there. But we understand the cost of that comfort to others in the world and continue to work for social justice in small and large ways.
    Plenty of people, old and young, who were never part of the 'hippie' movement do the same of course. I do not mean to imply that being firmly planted in the middle or upper socioeconomic classes is an indication of callousness Many 'old hippies' learned to work for changw within the system. And they are still doing so.

Janie