50s social issues :(

Question 1

What was Britains housing infrastructure like in 1951

Answer 1

run-down and in need of modernising and reparing from war damage. Housing had been neglected for the previous decade(I wonder why) and slums were still relatively commonplace

Question 2

What increasingly broke up traditional community developments by allowing for instance the creation of commuter towns

Answer 2

The popularisation of the privately owned automobile

Question 3

how did mens weekly wages change from 1951 to ‘61

Answer 3

£8.30 to £15.35

Question 4

Why did Homeownership increase from 1951

Answer 4

Easier access to mortgages(death contract) adn enw construction. However, large proportions of the population still rented or relied on council houses

Question 5

What technique allowed mass adoption of new consumer goods with absolutely 0 ramifications to the later fiscal wellbeing of the nation

Answer 5

Hire purchase- essentially buying on credit with monthly payments(inclusing interest)

Question 6

between 1957 and 1959 how did the amount of households with a tv change

Answer 6

rose by 32% and by 1960 its estimated half the population watched television in the evening

Question 7

Between 1957 and 1959 how did the proportion of the population that owned a car change

Answer 7

Increased by 25%

Question 8

What events or ideas in the later 50s and early 60s resulted in a challenge to traditional socetal restrictions and a breakdown of the status quo

Answer 8

The Suez Crisis-govt lying and manipulation-imperialism bad???????
CND-challenging authority and ‘anti-patriotic’
Profumo affair-more govt lying and role of the media

Question 9

at the 1951 election, what proportion of the working class voted for labour and middle class for conservatives respectively

Answer 9

65% of working class votes for labour
80% of middle class vote for conservative

Question 10

What is the ‘Establishment’

Answer 10

The term for the informal networks of the privileged and wealthy who were/are the social and political elites

Question 11

What did the Profumo affair show in the relation between the press and govt

Answer 11

The press was no longer necessarily subordinate to the goverment-this was empahsized by the subsequent ‘satire boom’-with magazines like ‘private eye’ and shows like ‘that was the week that was’

Question 12

What are some examples of artistic works by the angry young men and what did they represent

Answer 12

Look back in anger(1956)-John Osbourne
Room at the top(1957)-John Braine
This sporting life(1960)-David Storey
A kind of Loving(1960)-Stan Barstow
They represent a sarcastic bitter and bleak lambasting of contemporary british society, attacking the behavior and prevalence of the upper and middle claasses;the establishment

Question 13

What was the average age of marriage and what % of women were married in the 50s

Answer 13

21 years old and 75% of women were married, with 1 in 5 working in 1951

Question 14

Which state benefit, renamed child benefit in 1977 paid women for each child they had, ensuring they did not need to find work

Answer 14

Family Allowance

Question 15

What was the welfare state very much based on

Answer 15

The model of the Nuclear Family e.g. family allowance, based off of full male employment, mortgages and loans always in the mans name etc

Question 16

When was equal pay for teachers established

Answer 16

1952

Question 17

What are examples of labour saving devices that allowed women to have a lot more free time

Answer 17

Washing machines; between 1957 and 1959 the amount of households with one rose by 54% with one model being known as the ‘liberator’
Refrigerator-between 57 and 59 amount of households with one rose by 58%

Question 18

How many immigrants were on the Empire Windrush in 1948

Answer 18

492 migrant workers

Question 19

By 1958, roughly how many immigrants from the commonwealth had settle in Britain

Answer 19

210,000, with 75% of them being male

Question 20

How did the labour party handicap themselves in the new era of prosperity and consumption

Answer 20

As austerity receded after 1950 and consumer demand kept growing, the Labour Party hurt itself by shunning consumerism as the antithesis of the socialism it demanded.[81]

Question 21

When did the Notting Hill riots take place and what were they

Answer 21

August 1958. They were a series of altercations where white youths assaulting afro-caribbeans due to landlord exploitation of high demand housing. The police response reflected the larger racial conflict at the time

Question 22

What developments meant a larger amount of youth subcultures and teenagers

Answer 22

Baby boom meant more teenagers
abolishment of national service in 1960 meant more freedom
changing morality and dress codes
They became more economically important purchasing vinyls etc

Question 23

What was the most prominent youth culture of the 50s

Answer 23

Teddy Boys

Question 24

What were two youth subcultures that conflicted in the 1960s

Answer 24

Mods vs Rockers

Question 25

Who lead a crusade against impurity on tv

Answer 25

Mary Whitehouse

Question 26

Which book was subject to a high profile lawsuit over censorship in which it was allowed to be published

Answer 26

Lawrences Lady Chatterly’s Lover