Paper 1 Theme 3 Flashcards
Society in transition 1918-79
1
Q
How did the upper class change 1918-39?
A
- traditional Conservative supporters, owned 79% of Britain’s wealth
- education by fee-paying schools e.g Eton and Harrow
- got Britain’s top jobs e.g in Parliament and law courts
- events attended by the royal family, like the Royal Ascot, gave clear identity to the upper class, also made it easier for middle class to try and gain upper class status
- after 1918 more events were held in public venues as the upper class were forced to sell their private mansions after WW1
- WW1 contributed to decline of the elite- 19% of all peers and their sons died, 20.7% of Old Etonians (former Eton College students) died, huge increase in income tax and death duties, estates worth over £2 million had to pay a 40% duty, tax on incomes over £2,500 rose from 2% in 1914 to 57% in 1925
- gentry sold of 1/4 of all land in England between 1918 and 1920
- House of Lords was no longer dominated by aristocratic power- 1911 Parliament Act meant that they could only delay legislation not block it and from 1958 hereditary peers were being changed to life peers
2
Q
How did the middle class change 1918-39?
A
- traditional Liberal supporters
- wide range of wealth but shared interests
- some middle class children went to public schools like Eton and Harrow but others went to private schools
- wealthy middle class families were often doctors or surgeons
- barrier between upper and middle class was getting blurred
- lower middle class people worked hard to differentiate themselves from the working class
- wartime inflation and rising prices meant middle class people feared the line between working and middle class was getting blurred, something which cost £100 in 1914 would cost £276 in 1920, middle classes wrongly blamed trade unions and w.c for this
- WW1 gave a spur to middle class employment, with a 34% increase in commercial and financial jobs in London, growth of new industries e.g science also fuelled this
- home ownership was a key feature of middle class, by 1939 60% of the middle class were home-owners compared to 20% of w.c
3
Q
How did the working class change 1918-39?
A
- made up of unskilled labourers and the destitute or criminal underclass, full employment in the war reduced the amount of people at the very bottom, trade union membership increased by 90% in 1914 to 1918
- however less w.c people fought in WW1, in 1918 10.3% of w.c were rejected as unfit for any kind of service and 31.3% were too sickly for combat
- diet limited to basic vegetables and cheap meat
- rationing helped working class health- life expectancy rose from 49 to 56 for men and from 53 to 60 for women
- little wealth- 3/4 of people left less than £100 in their will
- little or no access for working class children to go to fee-paying school
- rented old low quality homes, sometimes families rented rooms in the same house
- slum clearances did not properly start until the 1950s and although some working-class families were happy with ‘mod con’ flats, others felt isolated by the lack of local amenities or sense of community
4
Q
Why did the liberal society (1951-79) come about?
A
- end of class deference (respect for upper classes by lower classes)
- changing living standards of the working class- ownership of cars, houses and foreign holidays, class lines were blurred, w.c culture became more important
- 1950s w.c culture- w.c pop music e.g the Beatles, films and books showing the working class
- 1963 Profumo Scandal- highlighted the lack of confidence people had in the upper classes governing the country. Politician John Profumo had an affair with 19 year old prostitute Christine Keeler, denied it but was exposed for lying. There was concern he could’ve been blackmailed by Keeler’s other boyfriend who was a Russian spy. Scandal led to the collapse of the Conservative govt in 1964 and it ended people’s confidence in the upper class
- the satire boom- there was controversy over people making fun of Britain’s upper classes, interviews with politicians were combined with satirical humour- the first time the British public saw politicians being rigorously questioned- reflected a change in attitudes
5
Q
To what extent WAS there a permissive society 1963-79?
A
- attitudes to sex- more relaxed, changing behaviour in how open people were e.g 1 in 3 boys and 1 in 6 girls between the ages of 16 and 19 had sex
- media- more open about gay people e.g ITV programme ‘the naked civil servant’ followed a gay character, pop stars such as David Bowie came out as bisexual, Tom Robinson released ‘glad to be gay’ in 1976 which reached 18 in the singles chart - more permissive
- govt laws- homosexuality decriminalised in 1967, before 1967 gay men ran the risk of being arrested for having sexual relations, a 1963 poll said that 93% of people thought homosexuals were ill and needed some medical treatment, 1967 Sexual Offences act decriminalised it for men over 21, abortion legalised in 1967, before this backstreet abortions were often performed
6
Q
To what extent WASN’T there a permissive society 1963-79?
A
- two major surveys suggested that a sexual revolution was not happening and the idea of it was misleading, Michael Schofield found that only 18% of girls and 10% of boys, in his sample of 2000 teenagers, had sex with more than 3 people and that 17% of girls and 33% of boys had sex by the age of 19
- Margaret Thatcher- she wanted a reversal of the permissive society and in 1977 said basic Christian values were under attack
- Mary Whitehouse ‘Clean up TV’ petition managed to gain 500,000 signatures in 1964, she believed TV was corrupting and introduced un-Christian values. She criticised the BBC about sexual scenes, images of drinking, criticism of the royal family, crime and violence on TV, wanted to bring Britain back to its Christian roots, in 1977 she launched a legal case against Gay News magazine for publishing a blasphemous poem about a Roman solider having sex with Jesus- won the case so suggests Britain was not permissive, her petition gaining a lot of signatures also suggests most people were not permissive
- 1971 Festival of Light- set up in Hyde Park to promote Christian morality and prevent ‘moral pollution’, it was supported by famous people such as Cliff Richard and inspired over 70 regional rallies- although it attracted over 100,000 people it had little impact on permissive society, largely because Christian influence was declining, 1947 Mass Observation report showed “most people don’t think much about religion and have confused ideas about it”
7
Q
How did family life change for women 1918-39?
A
- 1921 the first birth control clinic was founded- gave women more access to birth control
- however working class women did not benefit from contraception advice as they weren’t covered by health insurance
- 1937 Matrimonial Causes Act made it easier for women to get a divorce- allowed it if either partner had been unfaithful, before if both had been unfaithful divorce could have been refused, attitudes towards divorced women were negative- Wallace Simpson was seen as a manipulative gold digger
- divorce rates increased- before matrimonial act number of divorces was below 4,800 a year, in 1951 it was 38,000
- 1930 the General Medical Council allowed doctors to give contraception advice to married couples, Church of England allowed married members of the congregation to use birth control methods
- 1920 Unemployment Insurance Act stated women had to prove they were actively seeking work to claim benefits, 1931 Anomalies Regulation further restricted this by saying women had to prove they were able to do insurable work
8
Q
How did family life change for women in WW2?
A
- loss of manpower meant that women were conscripted in huge numbers to do traditionally male work
- families became split up due to evacuation of children and enlistment of women’s husbands
- women felt isolated and became increasingly discontent with their role and status in society
- 1946 National Insurance Act classed non-working wives as dependants who could not claim unemployment benefits
9
Q
How did family life change for women in 1951-79?
A
- labour-saving devices e.g vacuum cleaners and washing machines enabled women to devote less time to domestic chores
- feminists in the 1960s and 1970s began to challenge the idea that marriage was the main life goal for women
- lack of nurseries meant mothers could only aspire to part-time work and outside of work they were further isolated by time-consuming childcare
- 1978- married women started paying National Insurance contributions and could claim full benefits when unemployed
- 1969 Divorce Reform Act meant couples could end their marriage due to ‘irreconcilable differences’ after 2 years or after 5 years if only one party wanted to end the marriage, divorce was hard to get before this- rates of divorce increased from less than 3 in 1,000 marriages in 1965 to almost 10 in 1,000 in 1976
- 1970 Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act awarded a far higher share of the couple’s wealth to women in divorce settlements
- women gained greater sexual freedom and equality thanks to wider availability of birth control and the Pill, became available on the NHS to all women in 1974
- 1967 Abortion act gave more freedom to women- before the act dangerous backstreet abortions were performed by untrained people with lack of hygiene, previously led to 40 maternal deaths and over 100,000 injuries in 1966 alone
10
Q
How did employment change for women 1918-39?
A
- number of working women in industry increased from 3.3 million in 1914 to 4.8 million in 1918
- 1919 Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act meant women who had been employed in munitions were forced to return to pre-war employment or stop working if this was not possible
- the ‘marriage bar’ was also quickly re-established (expectation that women would stop working when married)
11
Q
How did employment change for women in WW2?
A
- women conscripted to do male-dominated jobs, after 1941 percentage of women who worked as engineers, in transport or the chemical industry rose from 14% 1939 to 33% 1945
- thousands of women served as farm workers in the Women’s Land Army or in non-combat roles in the army
- as a result, despite govt propaganda to maintain distinct gender roles, there was wider male acceptance of women as workers outside of their traditional roles e.g receptionists, domestic service etc
12
Q
How did employment change for women 1951-79?
A
- in 1951, 1/4 of married women worked, by 1961 it rose to 1/3, in 1971 it was a half
- in 1950s, the majority of women who had a child did not return to work for ten years, by the 1970s this period fell to 4 years
- there were more part-time and semi-skilled jobs, which were the majority of female employment, 1965 sociologist Viola Klein’s survey found that 60% of working women did unskilled jobs
- 1970 Equal Pay act was introduced , mainly caused by 1968 Ford Dagenham strike, a 3 week strike by 300 female sewing machinists who demanded equal pay for the same work
- 1975 Employment Protection Act meant women could not be sacked for getting pregnant and six weeks of paid maternity leave was given to those who had 2 years’ service
- 1975 Sex Discrimination act made it illegal to discriminate against women in employment training, housing and education
HOWEVER women continued to experience a ‘glass ceiling’ in certain professions and unequal pay due to the impact of motherhood on work, women continued to take up unskilled and part-time work due to pressures of family life
13
Q
How did politics change for women 1918-39?
A
- although 8.5 million women over 30 gained the right to vote in 1918, only 17 women stood as Parliamentary candidates and only one was elected and number of female MPs stayed low in the 1920s and 30s- 5 in 1922 and 9 in 1935
- 1928 Representation of the people act expanded on the 1918 act, gave all women over 21 the right to vote which gave equality with men
- women made important contribution to social and welfare reforms with the 1922 Criminal Law Act which raised the age of consent from 13 to 16
- female politicians tended to focus on local politics rather than national, despite this women only made up 5 or 6% of local councils between 1918-39
- many women joined trade unions for the first time due to demand for female labour in 1914-1918, although some unions rejected women or only accepted them at temporary basis, it allowed for some political advancement at a national level
14
Q
How did politics change for women in WW2?
A
- by 1939 there were more women with Parliamentary experience e.g Nancy Astor and Eleanor Rathbone
- in 1940 Astor set up the Women Power Committee to investigate and promote female issues
- intervention of female MPs such as Maud Tate led to introduction of equal compensation for wartime injuries of men and women in 1943, however they were unable to secure equal pay in the workplace- by 1945 male MPs considered female issues more seriously
15
Q
How did politics change for women in 1951-79?
A
- 1945 and 1955 there were only 24 out of 630 female MPs, only 23 out of 635 in 1974
- Barbara Castle became Secretary of State for Employment and for Social Services in the 1970s- she was responsible for a range of significant legislation for women including the 1970 Equal Pay act, pension reform and introduction of child benefits
- Women’s Lib movement expanded- Betty Friedan’s ‘the Feminine Mystique’ became a bestseller in Britain- argued that women would remain unfulfilled, second-class citizens unless they stood up against male domination, set clear agendas e.g equal opportunities and equal pay, free contraception and abortions on demand- despite the movement fragmenting by the 1980s they achieved a lot of their goals
- success of the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike attracted national attention and fuelled female activism
- most trade unions were still male dominated until the 1980s, there was a large increase in female trade union membership between 1970 and 1979, from 2.6 to 3.8 million
- Margaret Thatcher first female Prime Minister in 1979
