Britain 1964-70 Flashcards
What does Swinging mean?
greater freedom to engage in sexual and cultural activities
What was Roy Jenkins Job?
Harold Wilson Home Sec
What type of MP was Roy Jenkins?
Causalist MP
What does Roy Jenkins ideals undermine?
The church
ie he said “make their own mistakes, and to decide, in an adult way”
What did Roy Jenkins not want people to do?
Didn’t want people to have to follow rules in an unthinking way.
What were the motives of a lot of the acts that Jenkins passed?
They produced practical benefits
- Ie less blackmailing
Fewer deaths from backstreet abortions
What was pressure from the people like on passing the liberal acts like the Abortion act 1967?
Not much pressure from people to pass the acts, more top down to liberalise issues (some see it as more freeing, positive impact)
- Some resistance ie from people like Mary Whitehouse
Why were the liberal acts of the 60’s sometimes seen as bad?
- ‘permissive’ (Marwick), Leading to divorce, drug culture as society allows for people to do whatever they won’t
- Greater freedoms lead to greater problems (divorce-> leads to harm to children, drug culture-> leads to drug addiction)
Davies believes Causalist MPs undermined boundaries
- Greater freedoms lead to greater problems (divorce-> leads to harm to children, drug culture-> leads to drug addiction)
What social liberalisation happened in 1960?
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial allowed publication of this ‘pornographic’ novel
What anti social liberalisation happened in 1964?
Mary Whitehouse launches her Clean-Up TV campaign
What social liberalisation happened in 1965?
Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act is passed. This initially suspends hanging for five years, before it is abolished in 1969
What social liberalisation happened in 1967?
Sexual Offences Act legalises homosexual acts between men over the age of 21, in private, in England and Wales (not in Scotland until 1980, and in Northern Ireland until 1982)
Legalisation homosexuality acts between men in private over 21 (Scotland 1980, NI 1982)
Abortion Act legalises abortion during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy through the NHS.
Family Planning Act allows local health authorities to provide birth control devices. The contraceptive pill has been on sale since 1961
What social liberalisation happened in 1968?
NHS can supply contraceptive devices like cap, pill already on sale (since 1961) but only to married women
What social liberalisation happened in 1969?
Divorce Reform Act allows divorce to be granted after two years of separation if both parties want it, and after five years if one party wants it, on the grounds of ‘irreconcilable differences
What were the social movements of the sixties that had change/liberalisation?
- Women (divorce, contraception, abortion, attitudes to sex)
- Sexuality (homosexuality, censorship)
- Crime (death penalty, suicide)
- Media, including backlash against permissiveness in media
- Fashion
- Culture (music, film, theatre)
-Education - Race/immigration
What were Key events, legislation, statistics on Women (divorce, contraception, abortion, attitudes to sex) in the 60s?
1967: Abortion Act legalises abortion during first 28 weeks of pregnancy through NHS. Previously dangerous back street abortions took place which caused 40 deaths and 100,000 injuries in 1966.
1967: Family Planning Act allows local health authority to provide birth control devices. The contraceptive pill was first prescribed by British doctors in 1961 but only to married women. By 1964 480,000 women were taking the pill.
1969: Divorce Reform Act allows a divorce after 2 years of separation if both people want it and after five years if one person does.
How is significant was the change in the 60s regarding Women (divorce, contraception, abortion, attitudes to sex)?
Most people continued to have conservative attitudes towards divorce.
The main change in attitudes towards sex before marriage were that young people were more tolerant than previous generations.
What were Key events, legislation, statistics on Sexuality (homosexuality, censorship) in the 60s?
1957 - Wolfenden Committee Report recommends the liberalisation of laws that made homosexuality illegal
1967 - Sexual Offences Act legalises homosexual acts between men over the age of 21, in private, in England and Wales (not in Scotland until 1980, and in Northern Ireland until 1982)
Laws like the 1967 Abortion Act and 1967 Sexual Offences Act were passed in a more practical sense rather than based on moral ethics (ie looking at deaths due to backstreet abortions as a constant issue needing to be fixed, than a moral issue-> 40 deaths, 100,000 injuries in 1966)
60’s= seen as a time of ‘sexual revolution’
By 1964, around 480,000 women were taking the pill
Surveys like Schofield’s ‘The Sexual Behaviour of Young People’ found only 17% of girls and 33% of boys had had sex by the age of 19
More sexualisation on TV- ie more suggestive clothing and behaviour but no sex on tv ie Pussy Galore, Bond Girl
How is significant was the change in the 60s regarding Sexuality (homosexuality, censorship)?
While laws changed, people’s attitudes did not necessarily adapt
Polls from the later 1960s showed that people did not adjust to or accept the more relaxed laws
The law was not the result of pressure from constituents but their own beliefs
Young people became more tolerant to sex before marriage, but statistically it wasn’t actually acted upon by the majority of teenagers- less so a popular revolution
People consistently revealed they didn’t welcome homosexuality throughout the population
What were Key events, legislation, statistics on Media, including backlash against permissiveness in media in the 60s?
- 1954 - Television Act passed, gives ITV a license to broadcast for 10 years
- 1955 - 14 independent companies allowed to begin broadcasting television funded by advertising, breaking the BBC’s monopoly.
- 1960 - Committee of Inquiry on Broadcasting set up to assess the impact of television and to make recommendations for the future.
- 1962 - Pilkington Report from aforementioned committee delivered - generally supported more regulation of television
- Foreign (especially American) programs eroded British culture and made people more violent
- Advertising would commercialise British culture and make British people material
- Emphasised the need for quality drama on television - resulted in the production of plays such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home (social realist)
- Many findings ignored by government
- 1964 - Television Act increases the power of the Independent Television Authority
- ITV required to screen 2 plays and 2 current affairs program per week
- 1964 - BBC 2 established
- By 1969, 95% of households owned a television. In 1950, it was just 4%.
- 1954 Television Act: ITV was given a license to broadcast for 10 years.
- In July 1960, the government set up a Committee of Inquiry on Broadcasting to assess the impact of television.
- 1964 Television Act: ITV had to screen 2 extra plays and current affairs programmes per week. BBC 2 was created.
- The BBC banned screenings of The War Game (1965) until 1980.
- In January 1964, Mary Whitehouse started the Clean-Up TV campaign, and she renamed it to the NVLA in 1965. It was essentially created to pressure the BBC into becoming more “Christian”.
1962: Colour supplements were introduced to newspapers to promote increased circulation.
How is significant was the change in the 60s regarding Media, including backlash against permissiveness in media?
With the introduction of ITV and almost everyone having access to a TV by the end of the decade, regulation (despite most social aspects becoming more liberal) became stricter, particularly against shows that were deemed as “bad influences” on the population. ITV gameshows were criticised for being too American, though there was nothing obscene or wrong with the actual content.
Legacy media (i.e. newspapers) slowly became replaced with television bulletins - 5 national newspapers stopped printing shortly after 1960. Papers still had an impact though - Private Eye (though a satire publication) exposed the Profumo affair, which led Labour MPs to force the statement in the house, which was then proven to be a lie, etc.
What were Key events, legislation, statistics on Crime (death penalty, suicide) in the 60s?
1961 - Suicide Act means that those who fail to kill themselves will no longer be prosecuted.
1965 - Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act is passed. This initially suspends hanging for five years, before it is abolished in 1969. Only 18% of people supported abolition in 1966.
How is significant was the change in the 60s regarding Crime (death penalty, suicide)?
Evidently, there was not widespread support for the abolition of the death penalty, with Peter Hitchens labelling it as “a victory for the elite over the people”. It was a very significant change, with Peter Allen and Gwynne Jones being the last people to be hanged in Britain in August 1964. Dominic Sandbrook doesn’t believe the Swinging Sixties led to a change in attitudes regarding a permissive society amongst ordinary people.
What were Key events, legislation, statistics on Fashion in the 60s?
New fashions such as Op Art and ‘the Look’ inspired by designers such as
Mary Quant, with boutiques in London and made available around the country in high streets (mass produced) meant that it became harder to distinguish a woman’s class based on her fashion. Barbara Hulanicki’s ‘Biba’ sold cheap clothes by mail. The most famous model of the Era, Twiggy, said that Mary Quant’s clothes were for ‘rich girls’ and Biba was for ‘anyone’.
Fashion was always advertised, and with colour newspapers and new photographers was exciting.
But newspapers aren’t truly what caused the boom, instead the air of affluence, consumerism , confidence of youth and changing role of women. People were divided on the miniskirt.
How is significant was the change in the 60s regarding Fashion?
Growth in Industry
What were Key events, legislation, statistics on Culture (music, film, theatre) in the 60s?
- 1960 - Committee of Inquiry on Broadcasting
- 1964 Television Act
- ‘Double Your Money’, ‘Take Your Pick’ both ran from 55-68.
- 1960 - ‘Coronation Street’ launched.
- 1962 - ‘That Was the Week that Was’
- Between 1954-1964, Cinema admissions fell by approx. 270%.
1956 - ‘Look Back in Anger’
How is significant was the change in the 60s regarding Culture (music, film, theatre)?
- 64 Act made ITV broadcast 2 plays a week and the news to fill their obligation to public service.
- As a result of the Committee’s reports and emphasis on the need for higher quality drama, demand for plays from British playwrights increased. ‘The Wednesday Play’ launched the careers of people such as Dennis Potter and Nell Dunn.
- Radio helped to blur class divisions and the broadcast of public leisure pursuits such as dog racing for the working class and tennis for the middle classes meant that all people could watch similar programmes in their own homes.
- Spread of American culture through television such as Westerns raised concerns that people would grow more violent as a result.
- Writers started producing ‘socialist realist’ plays.
- By the mid-60s. The production of plays began to evolve from broadcast theatre productions to being more on location.
- ‘The War Game’ about a nuclear attack on Britain was banned due to being too violent / horrific for 1960s viewers.
- The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were popular rock musicians.
- ‘Coronation Street’ represented genuine working class culture and aspirations of social advancement. It grew to be exceptionally popular in the north of England.
- ‘That Was The Week That Wads’ [TW3] represented the peak of the boom of satire. It featured comedians from ‘Beyond the Fringe’, a revue stage show, such as Peter Cook. It peaked at 12mn viewers per week. It made journalists less deferential to politicians and paved the way for investigative journalism.
- ‘Look Back in Anger’ was one of the first examples of a true ‘kitchen sink drama’. Many working class people did not enjoy such drama, preferring lighter comedies and Kitchen Sink Dramas typically were more representative of middle class views about national decline.
- Bond films prospered due to the international context of the Cold War and a British obsession with spies.
What is Social Mobility?
ability to move social class (mainly working class to middle class in terms of their job)
What is a Meritocracy?
similar phenomenon to social mobility meaning when someone can progress and improve due to their merits and skills rather than their social standing (ie a working class person can get a job instead of a middle class person because they are smarter)
Why is a meritocracy not desirable?
- May not be happy as it becomes all about achievements
- People in low paid jobs feel that is all they deserve as their talents are so low
What was general consensus about Meritocracy in the 60s?
most people in favour of meritocracy, many MPs also in favour
How does education link to social mobility and class?
- The more middle class/office type jobs-> the more swinging people might be
How does the level that people swung in the 60s (ie became more socially liberal) change with class/job?
People move socially and tend to become more swinging (ie from working class to middle class office job, broadened horizons, less conservative)
Who was Anthony Crosland?
Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education and Science (1965–1967)
What campaign did Crosland play a role in from June 1960?
Campaign for Democratic Socialism
What is the Campaign for Democratic Socialism
right-wing grassroots group within the Labour Party, created, in part, as a response to the debates around the Left’s advocacy of Unilateral nuclear disarmament and Clause IV
What is Clause IV?
pro nationalisation section of Labour’s beliefs
How did Crosland feel about Social Mobility?
He supported it
How did Harold Wilson feel about Meritocracy?
thought a meritocratic society would be an economically thriving one, based on scientific and creative innovation.
How did Crosland believe he could help social mobility increase?
Believed social mobility would be increased if secondary moderns, grammars and technical schools were replaced with comprehensive schools.
What did Crosland do to increase social mobility?
Passed Circular 10/65 which encouraged local councils to go down this path by giving them extra money. By 1979 over 90% of pupils were in comprehensive school.
Did absolute social mobility rise in the 1960s and early 1970s, and why?
Yes, social mobility did increase due to education
As secondary education had become compulsory in 1945, therefore by the 60s more people were going to secondary school
More inter-class marriages (more people moved up from working class to higher classes)
Beginning of deindustrialisation- less manual jobs available, people from the working class began to take previously only middle class jobs (ie office jobs, non manual jobs) and move up classes (increase in social mobility)
Proportion of population in heavy industrial job (mining agricultural labour decreases every year
Was Crosland’s comprehensivisation a positive?
Open University 1969
- New higher education institution
- Enabled previously unqualified students to read for degree by studying courses broadcast on radio and television
- Made it easier for women to go to university (can care for children and attend uni at the same time, from home)
- Also people from manual jobs (ie miners) are also allowed to graduate from the Open university
- Harold Wilson later claimed this as his greatest achievement as PM
What was the level of immigration in the 60s?
Increase in immigrants: Kenya became independant, Uganda became independant-> expelled Asians that lived there, so they came to the UK
What was the Labour government’s view on immigration and racial discrimination?
Labour tries to lessen racial discrimination in the UK, every day life
Other countries (ie France, USA) weren’t trying to move in this direction
What are the Race Relations Act?
- Prohibited racial discrimination in public places (ie employment, housing)
- Incitement to racial hatred an offence
- Set up a Race Relations Board with power to investigate complaints of racial discrimination
- Set up Community Relations Commission to promote inter racial understanding
Who is Enoch Powell?
opposition prominent figure, nationalist
- Ironically presided over recruitment in Macmillan’s government of Commonwealth immigrants as nurses and hospital workers
What did Enoch Powell do in 1968 in response to the immigration issues at the time?
- Gave a racist speech on the issues Britain will have as it will be split apart by racial conflict in the future-> condemned by all political sides, caused his dismissal from the shadow cabinet
- felt Unlimited immigration threatened the character of the UK
- Popular speech with some working class groups ie London Dockers
What is the Commonwealth Immigration Act 1968?
- Prohibited new immigrants from settling in Britain unless they had family connections already established
- Built on measures Conservatives placed in 1962
- Both major parties had concluded that limitations on entry into Britain were necessary in the interest of good race relations (which is why they implemented the Race Relations Act)
NEEDED to limit the amount of people-> too much swinging, need to limit or not enough swinging
How did the media present Immigrants?
- Racist language used regularly
20th April 1968- Powell’s racist speech
How long had it been since Labour had last won an election? (until 1964?)
13 years
How did Labour target the younger voter electorate?
More youthful image-> Wilson is younger than Home or Macmillan + Labour seemed more in tune with young people + their ideas for progression
What movement did Labour MPs support which may have helped them gain power?
Saw power in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ movement
How did Wilson present himself, and how did it resonate with the working class voters?
Wilson represented himself as a Yorkshireman, more involved with the people, not an out of touch aristocrat like Home
What futuristic element did Wilson emphasise, which helped him appeal to voters?
Pushed for the ‘white heat of the technological revolution’
What was the 1964 election results?
Labour seats: 317
Conservative seats: 304
Labour= 44.1% vote
Conservative= 43.6% vote
Labour had 4 seat majority
