Affluent Society - Society Flashcards
How did living standards change?
pre-war slums now cleared and new towns built (e.g. Kirkby on Merseyside)
towns made under Labour grew rapidly
better farming due to generous state subsidies –> food rationing ended completely 1954
cheap mortgages = homeownership increased
However, rented accommodation + people in council houses still outnumbered private home ownership
Impacts of affluence and consumerism
Boom in car ownership = increase by 25%
Cars pushing housing developments further outside towns and cities
More time and money to develop hobbies such as DIY and gardening
50% polulation watched TV in evening
Increased ownership in consumer goods (e.g. TVs + washing machines)
Changes in class + the Establishment
Challenges to authority:
- Suez exposed lying + manipulation of gov. + rise in CND encourged challenge to authority = becoming more individualist + less conformist
- Profumo Affair
Satire boom:
Beyond the Fringe = satricical stage show
That Was The Week That Was = BBC show satirising public figure
The Angry Young Men –> rebelled against traditional theatre + literature
e.g. Look Back in Anger
Class loyalties still remained strong
1951 general election:
65% working class voted labour
80% middle class voted Conservative
Women 1951
only 1 in 5 went to work
75% of women were married
housewives and mothers
family allowance
Changes for women
equal pay for teachers 1952
new labour saving devices (washing machines and fridges)
by 1964 no. of women working had risen but still relatively uncommon
2nd wave feminism beginning
Continuity for women
family allowance
trade unions would not support woemn working as would lower wages
mortages and bank accounts under men’s names = financially dependent on their husbands
Who encouraged the Notting Hill Riots 1958?
right-wing politician Oswald Mosley
No. of immigrants increasing
By 1958 there were 210,000 Commonwealth immigrants in Britain
How did the government control immigration?
The Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962
Inward or outward immigration
inward = 1.25 million
outward = 1.95 million
Why did the no. of teenagers increase?
post-war baby boom –> 5 million teenagers by 1959
What helped youth culture to develop?
labour saving devices = girls dont have to help mums at home
national service ended 1960 = boys more free time
transistor radio
extremes of youth culture
Teddy Boys = associated w juvenille crimes
–> turned into mods and rockers
Mods and Rockers rioting in Brighton for 2 days
Drive to break down censorship
A Taste of Honey –> a play about an unmarried women who gets pregnant by a black sailor
Lady Chatterley’s Lover –> sexually explicit –> high profile court case under the Obsenity Act
Gang violence portrayed in The Clockwork Orange
Drive against “immorality + depravity”
Led by Mary Whitehouse
Majority opinion in Britain remained socially conservative
