Counterculture refers to a primarily western, white, youth culture of opposition to mainstream culture, originating in the mid‐1960s United States, which explored alternative lifestyles and perspectives, and is often referred to as the hippy movement. In the 1970s, social change, along with the rise of subcultural studies, meant that the term, and the movement, went out of fashion. More recent studies focus on the concept of the neo‐tribe, a loose affiliation of lifestyles and interests, and arguably today's Green parties and environmental movements exemplify this concept while also owing a debt to the original 1960s counterculture.