Britain Key Words Flashcards
What is welfare?
State of doing well in terms of happiness, good fortune, wellbeing
What is Capitalism?
An economic system by which individuals and companies trade and invest for private profit
What is Collectivism?
The people and the state acting together with a common sense of purpose, which necessarily meant a restriction on individual rights
What is Individualism?
Emphasis on the rights and freedoms of each citizen as opposed to collectivising power of the state
What is Mixed Economy?
A system in which the private and public sectors of the economy both operate
What are Real Wages?
The purchasing power of the earnings when set against their prices
What is Common Market?
Trading system between equal states with the minimum of regulation
What is property owning democracy?
A society in which people are encouraged to become homeowners, on the principle that the ownership of the property is a necessary part of democracy
What are Mod Cons?
Short for modern conveniences
ie central heating, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators and washing machine
What are unilateralists?
Those who believed Britain should give up its atomic weapons without waiting for a multilateral agreement between the nuclear powers to do so.
What is a Special relationship?
Churchill’s term to describe the values that the US and Britain had, making them natural allies
What is CND?
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
What is Apartheid?
In theory, the notion of separate and equal development for different racial groups in South Africa
How long did Harold Macmillan last as PM?
1957-63
How long did Alec Douglas Home last as PM?
1963-4
What is Social mobility?
ability to move social class (mainly working class to middle class in terms of their job)
What is the definition of each class bracket?
○ Working class - manual labour
○ Middle class - trade / professions
○ Upper class - landed aristocracy
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)
What is the Zeitgeist?
the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.
What are Industrial relations?
Trade unions, workers relations with managers, strikes
What is Devaluation?
Reducing the value of the pound against the dollar with the principle aim of making it easier to sell British goods abroad since they would be cheaper in real
What are the swinging sixties?
Increasing sexual freedom, music and drug culture to emphasise break with 1940s and 50s conformity; more ‘permissive society’
What is Commonwealth?
Organisation of former British colonies including Jamaica, Canada, Australia, Ghana etc
What does Post Industrial mean?
Moving away from economy based on heavy industry like coal and steel
What is the EEC?
European Economic Community
The European ‘common market’ countries in a free trade agreement also sharing some economic powers
What is inflation?
The rate at which prices rise
What is the Prices and Incomes policy?
Government attempt to control prices and wage increases
What is ‘East of Suez’?
Britain’s foreign policy in countries to the East of Suez Canal Egypt, such as Malaysia
What is Trade Deficit?
When a country spends more on imports than the value of its exports
What is devaluation?
When in an era of fixed exchange rates a government announces its currency will be worth a lower amount of $
What is Industrial Relations?
The state of the relationship between employers and workers; when it is poor there may be more strikes
What is the Vietnam war?
War between North and South Vietnam, with US backing South
