From far-out to far-reaching: the hippie generation's influence on mainstream culture runs deeper than the lyrics of a Grateful Dead song.

The so-called flower power movement may have begun as a backlash against orthodox culture and a rejection of establishment mores, but its values are now firmly part of the mainstream.

A new poll reveals that hippies, characterised as drug-taking drop-outs with relaxed attitudes to sex, have had a profound effect on the British way of life.

A survey to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Summer of Love shows the hippie ethos in the sixties and seventies was not a passing phase but continues to shape opinions today.

During the late sixties hippies emerged, eschewing social conventions and establishment values in favour of an ideology which revolved around peace, love and a belief the world could be changed for the better.

Today the movement has moulded mainstream society's views on everything from war, government, sex, fashion, food and alternative therapy to the environment, according to the poll commissioned by Readers Digest.

Almost half of Britons, or 46%, agree with the hippie rallying cry Make Love Not War'', and 49% are opposed to nuclear weapons. More than a third, or 35%, think there is never any excuse for war.

Some 48% of British people also now believe in questioning authority and 47% think there are too many rules.

Just under a third, or 30%, disagree with party politics, much like hippies.

Environmentalism and the need to save the planet has also been adopted by the mainstream, with an overwhelming 82% of Britons now saying they believe in it.

Almost half, or 47%, said they would consider trying to produce all their own food, 26% said they would build their home from recycled materials and 43% would live solely with alternative energy sources.

The hippie free love'' attitude to sex has also been embraced by the majority, with three-quarters of people now holding no objections to sex before marriage.

More than a third of those surveyed, or 35%, said they had smoked marijuana and 8% said they had taken LSD, while 43% said they were open-minded about meditation and a quarter believe in astrology.

Katherine Walker, editor-in-chief of the Readers Digest, said: "There was much more to the Summer of Love than taking drugs, sleeping around and shirking responsibility.

"Our poll shows that the hippie era produced many innovative, enduring ideals that British people have come to live by. In some ways they really did change the world."

The survey of 1000 people over the age of 18 was carried out in Scotland, England and Wales by YouGov online.