I'm a student from Switzerland and I have to do a big writing work about a theme of my choice. Because I'm a big fan of the Beat Generation, I do a research about the beat movement of today.
I would appreciate, if you could answer the following answers, when you know something about it.
If you also know some people I could ask, it would be very nice, when you send me an email or something.
thank you
here the questions:

1) Do you think, that the Beat Generation had a great influence to the following generations and that we today also are influenced of the Beat Generation without realising that?

2) In what way flows the spirit of the Beats in present (artistic) works? Do you know any examples of artists / authors (of today), which are Beats or use the Beats as a source of inspiration?

3) In general it says, that the beat movement ended in the 60's and found a new figure in the Hippies. Would you say, that is correct or were there beside of the Hippie movement still a beat movement?

4) What do you think about, if the demographic, political, cultural and economical changes had influence of the beats and if it's nowadays at all possible to be a "real" beatnik?

5) Do you know, if there's still somewhere beatniks, that you could count to the original beat movement?

6) If yes, could you say an example, where you can find them? Are they chiefly in the U.S.A to find, or is there in other countries some beat movements?

7) What are the main differences and what is common between the beatnik of today and the "old" beatnik?

I was just a few years too young to be drawn into the Beat Generation, plus I was in a very stable, even autocratic, family system that held on tightly to its youth.

To begin to respond to some of your questions, I immediately googled and first opened up the Wikipedia article, "Beat Generation" (Click Here) You would do well to read the entire article that defines terms, identifies people in the movement, and tells how this generation influenced American society.

Here is part of a paragraph that jumped out at me:

By either definition, the members of the Beat Generation were new bohemian ecstatic epicureans, who often engaged in spontaneous creativity. The style of their work may seem chaotic, but the chaos was purposeful; it highlighted the primacy of such Beat Generation essentials as spontaneity, open emotion, visceral engagement in often gritty worldly experiences. The Beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style.

Backstory: In order to understand the Beat Generation, one has to look at and understand the religious, social, and political climates in the U.S. for at least several decades before "beatniks" emerged. For instance, the U.S. was just coming up for air after WWII. Finding and establishing conformity, stability, uniformity, peace, normalcy were everyone's concerns. Vets looked for and found jobs, working wives returned to the kitchen, innumerable post-war babies were born (the beginning of the Baby Boomer Generation), affordable cookie-cutter homes were built, church and the family again became the centers of life.

The Wikipedia article goes on:

Influences on Western culture

While many authors claim to be directly influenced by the beats, the Beat Generation phenomenon itself has had a huge influence on Western Culture more broadly.

In many ways, the Beats can be taken as the first subculture (here meaning a cultural subdivision on idiotic/archaic/lifestyle/political grounds, rather than on any obvious difference in ethnic or religious backgrounds). During the very conformist post-World War II era they were one of the forces engaged in a questioning of traditional values which produced a break with the mainstream culture that to this day people react to -- or against.

There's no question that Beats produced a great deal of interest in lifestyle experimentation (notably in regards to sex and drugs); and they had a large intellectual effect in encouraging the questioning of authority (a force behind the anti-war movement); and many of them were very active in popularizing interest in Zen Buddhism in the West.

A quotation from Allen Ginsberg's A Definition of the Beat Generation as published in Friction, 1 (Winter 1982), revised for Beat Culture and the New America: 1950-1965:

Ginsberg has characterized some of the essential effects of Beat Generation artistic movement in the following terms:

* Spiritual liberation, sexual "revolution" or "liberation," i.e., gay liberation, somewhat catalyzing women's liberation, black liberation, Gray Panther activism.

* Liberation of the world from censorship.

* Demystification and/or decriminalization of cannabis and other drugs.

* The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form, as evidenced by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and other popular musicians influenced in the later fifties and sixties by Beat generation poets' and writers' works.

* The spread of ecological consciousness, emphasized early on by Gary Snyder and Michael McClure, the notion of a "Fresh Planet."

* Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization, as emphasized in writings of Burroughs, Huncke, Ginsberg, and Kerouac.

* Attention to what Kerouac called (after Spengler) a "second religiousness" developing within an advanced civilization.

* Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy as against state regimentation.

* Respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures, as proclaimed by Kerouac in his slogan from On the Road: "The Earth is an Indian thing."

The essence of the phrase "beat generation" may be found in On the Road with the celebrated phrase: "Everything belongs to me because I am poor."

You can see from the list above that the answer to your first question, "1) Do you think, that the Beat Generation had a great influence to the following generations and that we today also are influenced of the Beat Generation without realising that?" is YES!!!!

You would do well to read the Wikipedia article, look up helpful explanations for the various terms and proper nouns associated with the Beat Generation and the generations it spawned, puzzle out agreements/conflicts between and among generations, and notice the flow of ideas and yearnings from one generation to the next.

Of course, your primary task is to develop a good thesis statement that will guide your research and not allow you to get lost as you ambulate through many decades of history.

I thank you very much for your replies..I guess there are some useful informations in it.
But I hope still someone could say something about the beat scene today..or is there no scene today ?
I read a lot of things in the internet. I mean there is the manuscript from on the road, which cruises around the usa, and in lowell where kerouac were born, are celebration parties, when he's birtday.. what about all this..there must be some people out there, which are still connected with the beat movement..

I went googling with a variety of keyword combinations to find out if there are any current-day celebrations or organizations in honor of the Beat Generation. I couldn't find any.

I noticed you have posted this same question on several boards, but have not received a response. The Beat Generation was a reaction to the straight-laced, conservative generation that preceded it, and is now only a piece of history. New generations and their influences have taken its place. Time marches on.

You would do well to concentrate on the historical aspect of the Beat Generation and the many ways it affected the U.S. (and maybe the world). Please refer to the bold print in the Wikipedia article noted above in my earlier post.

Also, please visit a public or university library to do research on this. The Internet contains a great deal of material to wade through. A reference librarian can show you much more specific material that will fit in with your thesis statement.

no problem CeeBee, and thanks for your answer.
yeah, I infiltrade (does this word exist in english ?!) the whole internet with my questions..
your idea for a research in a libary is quite good, but somehow I'm more interessted in the "normal" people, I mean like all who are in the internet..I hope you know what I mean.. I'm looking for people of today, if they are somehow still "connected" with the beat generation..
I try to make a mix between historical things and the minds of the today living people...

In my opinion the influence of the Beat Generation on American culture, literature, lifestyle, etc., was incalculable, but it is also historic now. We have moved on from there, changed by it, and also still changing.