3a: Class and social values Flashcards
At the start of the 20th century, social class was crucial in..
determining a person’s status and place in society.
What were people in higher classes treated with?
People in higher social classes were generally treated with deference (respect).
How was 1951 different to 1914?
In 1951, despite a few minor examples, the class system and society was not hugely different from 1914.
What happened between 1951-1979 concerning class?
It is the period 1951-1979 when attitudes to the class system are challenged more dramatically with the creation of a more liberal society.
Industrial Working Classes
People who worked as manual labourers or skilled craftsmen in factories, mines, docks and on the railways.
Lived in mostly tight-knit communities
Lower Middle Classes
Workers in semi-skilled clerical jobs; small business owners who tended to own their own homes.
Middle Classes
Professionals (doctors, lawyers, bankers, civil servants) These people did highly specialised/specific tasks
Upper Classes
Families who had inherited wealth, land and titles, often represented in the House of Lords. Naturally, supporters of the Tories.
Many of the senior army officers in WWI were from this background. As well as many ministers in Asquith and Lloyd George’s cabinets.
What is deference?
Treating someone with respect and politeness
What happened to deference after ww1?
Some decline in deference:
The high death toll (704,803 men from Britain were killed). Consequently, this shook the confidence the working classes had in the upper-class generals who led
What did working together in the trenches cause?
life in the trenches had often resulted in working- and middle-class men interacting on a more even basis (sharing dangers and what comforts there were).
Both these factors led to a decline in the deference in which the upper classes and middle classes were held.
What happened to the upper class during the ww1?
The death toll among Britain’s upper classes was disproportionately high in the First World War.
Many families were forced to pay death duties for those kill
How did greater equality affect class?
The experience of war had resulted in a more democratic society, with the passing of the 1918 ROPA.
As a result, many people felt more equal. They had surplus income and could aspire to more affluent lifestyles than their parent
How did the number of home-ownership change?
The number of home owners rose from 750,000 in the early 1920s to 3,250,000 by
What did the government do in oder to win the war?
The government mobilised all sections of society in order to win a war of national survival.
There was a sense that everyone was sharing the hardships of WWII (evacuation, the blitz, rationing, the threat of Nazi invasion & the general loss of life
What year was the beverage report released?
1942
What was the class system like in 1945 under Attlee
Nonetheless, in 1945, Britain’s class system remained largely intact. There was no attempt from Attlee’s government to abolish public schools, for example.
The emphasis was on greater equality of opportunity and greater state support, as opposed to total class equality that you might expect from a genuinely socialist government.
When did the most changes towards class happen?
The bigger changes in social values and deference based on class were still to come with the development of more liberal social attitudes in the 1950s, 60s & 70s
What was the sexual; revolution for most people in Britain?
For most people in Britain, the sexual revolution was something that featured in the newspapers, but was not experienced personally.
By the end of the 1960s, most people’s attitudes towards sexuality and their lifestyles were conservative.
The sensational reports of celebrity scandals in Britain’s newspapers gave their readers a misleading picture of the nation’s attitudes towards se
What was the reaction to the new social liberalism?
Unsurprisingly, there was a conservative reaction to this new-found social liberalism. A conservative reaction to the perceived decline in moral standards was led by campaigners such as Mary Whitehouse, Malcolm Muggeridge and Lord Longford.
Give 3 examples of people who campaigned against a liberal society
Mary Whitehouse,
Malcolm Muggeridge
Lord Longford.
What did Whitehouse do in 1965?
who did this attract?
In 1965 Whitehouse co-founded the National Viewers and Listeners Association (NVALA), which attracted campaigners from the general public, senior Church of England bishops, chief police officers and
What did the NVALA appose?
MPs. Not only was the NVALA opposed to sex, violence and swearing on television, but its members associated permissiveness with what they believed was a creeping ‘socialism’
How many members Whitehouse claimed NVALA had attracted?
over 100,000
Who was The NVALA was made up of?
The NVALA was made up predominantly of people from outside London who lived in the Midlands, the northwest, Yorkshire, the northeast, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
(these areas were more traditional and socially conservative that the cosmopolitan liberalism in London, for example).
Many activists looked at London with suspicion and disgust, associating it with the ‘swinging’ sixties, promiscuity and pornograph
What did the NVALA ban?
On a wider level the NVALA may have influenced legislation banning child pornography.
What legislation was put into place that banned child pornography?
Protection of Children Act of 1978
and
Indecent advertisements with the Indecent Displays Act of 1981.
What movie did the NVALA get banned?
its, its efforts were instrumental in getting the movie Deep Throat banned in Britain and in 1976 it was involved in efforts to get a Danish filmmaker who wanted to make a movie about Christ’s sex life banned from Britain.
What was the NVALAs most successful campaign?
perhaps the most famous campaign was to initiate a successful blasphemy trial against Gay News for what was perceived to be a heretical poem about Christ.
