Chapter 7: social and cultural change Flashcards
What percentage of people had a TV in their home by 1971?
91%
- ended isolation of more distant communities and soon surpased cinema as a form of entertainment
How did mass media expand?
- ITV lauched in 1955 - expansion of advertising
- spread of car radios, long life batteries and earphones - more portable
- Pop music station radio one was started (replaced pirate stations)
- The Sun newspaper replaced the daily herald - popularity grew - permissive attitudes
How did theatrical censorship change during the sixties?
- backbencher George Strauss introduced a bill to abolish theatrical censorship (Lord Chamberlains office could previously had “immoral” material removed) - bill was passed in 1968 with Roy Jenkins support
- permitted nudity on stage - act was celebrated when 13 members of the “Hair” cast stood naked on stage
How did attitudes regarding film censorship change?
still controlled by the British board of film censors - but screen violence and sex became more acceptable and explicit
- Coronation street - shocked older audiences due to its realistic portrayal of failed marriages and affairs
What percentage of women were in higher education in 1970?
28% - only 5% of women reached managerial posts
How did womens lives change/not change during the sixties?
Limited change
- girls left school at the minimum age and married young
- working mothers portrayed as unnatural and selfish
Change
What was the family planning act of 1967?
What were the benefits/issues?
provision of contraceptives and contraceptive advice
- allowed women to escape difficult relationships but also meant women were the ones left to support themselves and their children - women still lack full economic independence
How did the feminist movement develop during the sixties?
- womens lib groups were established
- womens national co-ordination committee set up - demanded equal pay, free contraception and abortion, equal education and job opportunities, free 24 hour childcare
- discrimination and stereotypes still existed
How did attitudes towards sex change during the sixties?
- catholic church was critical of contraceptive pill and mary whitehouse lobbied to remove programmes she viewed as immoral - failed to have any impact
- change was exagerated by the media - report showed most young people were still virgins when they married
How did Youth culture change during the sixties?
- fashion norms change - women wear trousers, men wear bright coloured fabrics
- music became more accessible - cheap record players and new radio stations (BBC radio 1)
- new youth subcultures - Skinheads and hippies
What was the role of young people in the vietnam war riots?
- vietnam solidarity campaign had significant support from university students
- March 1968 - Battle of Grosvenor square - violent protest with 200 people arrested
- multiple other protests (in sussex a speaker on the war from the american embassy was covered in red paint)
What were attitudes towards immigration like in the sixties?
still very tense
- survey showed that one in five objected to working with black or asian people and 9 out of 10 disaproved of mixed marriages
What was the first race relations act of 1965?
forbade discrimination in public places based on colour, race or ethnic origins
What was the new commonwealth immigration act (1968) and why was it passed?
limited the right of return to britain for non commonwealth citizens - caused by alarm over a sudden influx of kenyan asians into the country
What was Enoch Powell’s rivers of blood speech and how was it received?
speech where he condemned immigration - Heath sacked him from the shadow cabinet (condemned by the liberals)
- public opinion was more supportive - protest march in downing street in response to his sacking (poll showned that 75% of people supported him)
