3A - Class and Social Change, 1945-1979

Question 1

What impact did WW2 have?

Answer 1

• WC had desire for more equal GB
• Thought experience of war would make a classless society
• Social classes cooperated and interacted

Question 2

Why did WW2 make social classes cooperate and interact?

Answer 2

Evacuation, experience of being made homeless through bombing, hardships of rationing felt by all classes

Question 3

How were the political parties impacted by WW2?

Answer 3

1945 Election - both parties campaigning for greater state intervention - suggests role of gov had changed

Question 4

What characterised the 1950s and 1960s?

Answer 4

Increase in affluence, leisure time and consumer choice. Living standards rose as well as spending power and attitudes towards class system changed.

Question 5

How did peoples views change in the 1950s and 1960s?

Answer 5

Notions of morality about sexuality, marriage, abortion and homosexuality were challenged. Led to legal reform. Concerns over materialism and consumerism.

Question 6

When did rationing end and what consequence did it have?

Answer 6

1954 + relaxation of consumer credit = WC households could enjoy prosperity

Question 7

How did traditional views about class and deference begin to change?

Answer 7

TV and cinema exposed satirical content which ridiculed social class and newspapers exposed scandals involving ruling class

Question 8

What is an example of a satirical show from the satire boom in 1960?

Answer 8

‘Beyond the Fringe’ stage show played to large audiences, controversial show made fun of Britain’s establishment: gov, army and UC

Question 9

What did the episode ‘The Aftermyth of the War’ from ‘Beyond the Fringe’ do?

Answer 9

Scorned GB war effort

Question 10

What did ‘That Was The Week That Was’ from 1962?

Answer 10

Combined satirical humour with interviews with leading politicians. First time GB public could see elites on TV

Question 11

What was the British New Wave in the 1950s and 1960s?

Answer 11

New generation of writers and filmmakers depicted attitudes towards the class system. Saw novels about WC men and women experiencing prosperity.

Question 12

What is an example of a novel about a working class man desperate to escape his background from the British New Wave?

Answer 12

‘Saturday Night Sunday Morning’ 1958

Question 13

What sex scandal occured in 1963 about sex parties?

Answer 13

Rumours of sex parties held at Cliveden - stately home for Astor family

Question 14

Which newspaper reported sex scandals in the 1950s and 1960s and what was a famous scandal they reported?

Answer 14

Private Eye reported rumours e.g John Profumo shared a 19 yr old sexual partner Christine Keeler with a Soviet attache, Yevgeny Ivanov

Question 15

What do people believe a consequence of the Profumo Affair was?

Answer 15

1964 - some believe Profumo scandal led to defeat in election

Question 16

What characterised the sexual revolution of the 1960s?

Answer 16

Laws more liberal towards male homosexuality and abortion, didn’t translate to changes in public attitudes

Question 17

How many children had had sex education in 1949?

Answer 17

Less than 1/10 had any sex education, little evidence that parents discussed sex with their children

Question 18

What was the view regarding sexual activity in the 1950s?

Answer 18

View that state had a role in regulating private sexual activity e.g homosexuality

Question 19

Why is it unlikely that GB was sexually repressed prior to the sexual revolution?

Answer 19

• Cases of venereal disease were high, prostitution did well in WW2
• 1930s onwards - growing popularity for sexual advice books - Eustace Chesser’s 1941 book ‘Love Without Fear’ sold 3 million copies by 1964

Question 20

What did a 1950s survey find about sexual intercourse before marriage rejecting the idea of a sexual revolution?

Answer 20

⅕ of women born between 1894 - 1904 had experienced pre marital sex
½ all women born between 1924-1934 had sex before marriage

Question 21

How many boys and girls between 16-19 had sex in the 1960s and why is this misleading?

Answer 21

⅓ boys and ⅙ girls between 16-19 had had sex in 1965

Nearly all those that had were in relationships

Question 22

Why were sex scandals reported more frequently in the media in the 1960s?

Answer 22

Sex scandals = popular - particularly with celebrities. Advertisers wanted to reach large audiences - sex = large audience

Question 23

How did media techniques of sex sells come about in the 1960s?

Answer 23

People began to associate celebrities with sex and consumerism became associated with sex

Question 24

How does Phillip Larkin’s poem Annus Mirablis capture the mood of the early 1960s?

Answer 24

Refers to Chatterley ban - Lady Chatterley’s Lover - book depicting explicit sex between WC and UC couple - obscenity trial - sold 3 million copies so popular among some but rejected by some

Question 25

What did the Wolfenden report - published by church groups - suggest in 1957?

Answer 25

decline in morality since the war and family life had been weakened. Lord Wolfenden wanted harsher prostitution laws but decriminalisation of homosexuality in private

Question 26

Why did Wolfenden want harsher prostitution laws but decriminalisation of homosexuality in private?

Answer 26

Believed prostitution was immoral but homosexuality was hidden and in doors.

Question 27

What was founded in 1958 regarding homosexuality?

Answer 27

Homosexual Law Reform Society was founded. Campaigning for Wolfenden’s regulations.

Question 28

How was homosexuality decriminalised in 1967?

Answer 28

1960-1966 Attempts to introduce Sexual Offences Bills based on Wolfenden’s report.
1967 - Private Members Bill - passed by a narrow majority, Decriminalised homosexuality

Question 29

When was abortion decriminalised?

Answer 29

1967

Question 30

How popular were the liberal reforms of the 1960s?

Answer 30

Survey showed that 85% disproved of homosexuality and half believed it should be punished more severely

Question 31

What reflects the emergence of conservative attitudes in the late 1960s?

Answer 31

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady - Moors murderers, convicted of killing 3 children in 1966 and were unmarried but in a relationship, newspapers connected murder to permissive society

Question 32

Why was there a Clean Up TV campaign in 1964?

Answer 32

Condemned content of a sexual nature, alcohol exposure, criticising the royal family and any references to crime - quite popular

Question 33

What was the NVALA in 1965?

Answer 33

Founded the National Viewers and Listeners Association included church bishops, police officers and MPs. Opposed sex, violence, swearing and associated all these with socialism, little impact

Question 34

What did the NVALA influence?

Answer 34

Banning child pornography - Protection of Children Act of 1978 and indecent advertisements - Indecent Displays Act of 1981, got Deep Throat movie banned in 1976

Question 35

What was the Festival of Light founded by Malcolm Muggeridge - leading figure of moral conservatism?

Answer 35

Aimed to prevent sexualisation of TV, promote christian teachings. Little impact on TV

Question 36

What did Lord Longford call for in 1972 in his report into pornography?

Answer 36

That the Obscene Publications Act in 1959 made it easy for pornography to be published and called for new censorship