How'd you describe that impact, Prime?
Them's some Famous Last Words, right ther'!
As far as "movement" as a way to ascertain, I guess, something or other: Where the hell are we going?
The hippie movement was a direct effect on the laws that were created to prevent drug use that still exist today. The hippie movement also affected the Civil Rights Movement, which eventually resulted in several laws giving African Americans and women the same rights and white men, including the equal rights to vote and to an education and work. Women are no longer expected to be housewives and it is accepted if a woman wants to have a job.
Distinct appearance and clothing was also one of the immediate legacies of hippies. Since that time, a wide range of personal appearance options and clothing styles, including nudity, have become more widely acceptable, all of which was uncommon before the hippie era.
After the hippie movement, African Americans, working women, homosexuals, nudity and non-traditional apparel all became generally more accepted.
Without the hippie movement, the United States would not be as free and adoptive as it is today. The 1960s was a highly influential time and the hippies were highly influential people. Bob Dylan, a musical sensation and activist of the hippie movement said,
“People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around – the music and the ideas.”Where are we going? Some would say, 'to hell in a hand-basket'. I say real change mostly happens very slowly. Since the pendulum swings both ways, it can sometimes be very hard to see any permanent changes, but they are there never-the-less. Change can be for the better and it can be for the worst. Whether it's one or the other, is a matter of perspective.