CONSERVATIVES 1951-64 CHAPTER 3 Flashcards
social change!
RISING LIVING STANDARDS
- 1951 – Britain’s infrastructure was run-down and needed modernising - there was desperate need for housing development to replace war damage.
change??
2 points :)
- Pre-war slums were cleared, and new towns were built.
- Homeownership increased helped by access to cheap mortgages
fav stat ever:
- Men’s weekly wages went up from
51 to 61
8.30 in 1951 to 15.35 in 1961.
RISING LIVING STANDARDS
- 1954 -
food rationing ended completely.
THE IMPACT OF AFFLUENCE AND CONSUMERISM
- Most obvious sign of affluence was the
the surge in the ownership of consumer goods – TVs, washing machines, fridges and new furniture bought on hire purchase
THE IMPACT OF AFFLUENCE AND CONSUMERISM
define hire purchase
buyer pays deposit on an expensive item and pays monthly instalments over the length of a contract after which the item can be bought with the remaining balance or returned.
THE IMPACT OF AFFLUENCE AND CONSUMERISM
- Affluence led tonew leisure opportunities:
tvs, cars, motorways (all stats may be useful)
TV ownership rose to 50% in 1962, car ownership rose by 25% between 1957-59, new motorways & 1200 miles of main roads completed between 1957-63.
THE IMPACT OF AFFLUENCE AND CONSUMERISM
Holiday camps at peak popularity - 60,000 people holidayed each week with Butlins as people had both
time off work and enough disposable income.
CLASS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT
- Class loyalties were very strong when it came to general elections
who voted labour, who voted cons?
65% of the working class voted labour and 80% of the middle class voted conservative.
CLASS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT
- Late 1950s - signs of shift in attitudes – the Suez crisis exposed
and rise of CND
lying and manipulation by the government and the rise of CND from 1958 encouraged the tendency to challenge authority.
CLASS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT
- Britain appeared to become a more individualist society which was less willing to follow the lead of the establishment:
what was the establishment???
a term for the informal network that connected the social and policial elites. These privileged, overwhelmingly male people who had influence and knew people who mattered, including the aristocracy, politicians, judges, leaders of business and the media. Most were very well off and progressed through Oxford and Cambridge into positions of power and influence.
- By 1960 there was also a satire boom - in 1961 the magazine
‘private eye’ rapidly established a loyal following for its disrespect for the famous.
- Critics of the establishment believed Britain was being held back by its running elite – the conservative government appeared to be dominated by it:
- Macmillan’s government included a
idrk how relevant this is icl
duke, the heir to a barony, a marquess, and three earls, including Sir Alec Douglas-Home, prime minister from 1963-4.
- It was argued Britain needed leaders who earned their positions through personal merit and understood the modern, technical age they were living in.
- By the late 1950s, a group of writers known as the…
angry young men led the way in using the arts to attack the behaviour and attitudes of the established upper and middle classes. Their writings were sarcastic, bitter, and intense.
* However, the class system was certainly not broken (no shit)
THE POSITION OF WOMEN
- Women were seen primarily as housewives in the 1950s – the ideal woman was a wife and mother; the average age of marriage
how many married , how many at work
was 21 and 75% of all women were married.
Only 1 out of 5 women went out to work in 1951.
THE POSITION OF WOMEN
- Family allowance (weekly benefit paid for each child in a family) paid to women was supposed to ensure that women
did not need to work and there was full employment for men.
