Is there such thing as counterculture?

I am not sure. In the sense of the definition it seems like it should be able to exist, even if only for a short time. But, when examined further, it is hard to say for certain if its possible or who would be included in such a group. Defined - wiki style - counterculture is used to describe values, behaviors, feelings of a cultural group that counter those of the social mainstream. It is behavior and attitudes deviating from the norm of society at large. However, when you consider the commodities that are necessary for these countercultures to identify themselves as unique – everything gets a little grey.

I think that a counterculture can exist for a limited time. A subculture can only deviate from the mainstream for a window of time before the trend goes mainstream. For example, going green has become completely cool. It began as environmentalists or “tree huggers” fighting for a cause they believed in and now you cannot go into a store without being pressured to buy another reusable water canteen or a canvas reusable bag. Not that going green is a negative thing but what made it happen? Is it just that our environment is in a serious state of danger and society has grown truly concerned? Or have the tree huggers, Al Gore, environmentalists finally convinced us all of the inconvenient truth? Or was it the advertisers and retail stores that got behind the movement after realizing their potential to make a buck if green was the new black?

I am not sure what causes a counterculture to go mainstream but it seems like, no matter how against the norm the group may seem in their arrival, their ideals will eventually find their way into the mainstream.