Social and Cultural Change - Part 1 Flashcards
mass media, leisure activities, scientific developments, reduction of censorship, progress towards female equality
1
Q
What did Thatcher and Tebbit blame for the ills of the 1980s?
A
- The moral decline of Britain under Wilson’s government
- Raises 2 questions
- Were the moral and social changes of the 1960s as widespread or as damaging as the right assumed?
- Did the labour party play a leading role in encouraging the emergence of the ‘permissive society’?
2
Q
What did Kenneth Morgan argue about change during the 1960s ?
A
- 1960s saw a tidal wave of permissive indulgence, homosexual as well as heterosexual, huge boom in contraceptives, a crusade for sexual indulgence in whatever form became accepted.
3
Q
How did the media and television grow in the 1960s?
A
- In the 1960s the mass media grew in size and type
- Television became available everywhere –> started to create a uniformity of culture and ended isolation of distant communities
- By 1961 75% of population had a TV in their home and by 1971 it was 91%
- When Hugh Greene became Director- General of the BBC in 1960 - set out to transform it
4
Q
What were the developments in style of television ?
A
- Guidelines of nudity and swearing revised, a new style of news presentation and more popular programmes were commissioned
- The launch of ITV in 1955 allowed advertising to expand
5
Q
What were some new programmes that were released in 1960-70s?
A
- Z cars - 1962-78 - realistic drama
- Steptoe and Son - 1962-74
- The Wednesday Play 1964-70 - covered controversial issues
6
Q
How did the radio develop?
A
- Radio survived through developments of technology - car radios, long-life battery and earphones - meant that radios could be taken out and listened to in the privacy of the bedroom
- Personal radios meant programmes could be targeted at different audiences
- Beginning of 1960s just 3 BBC radio stations
- young people started listen to music on the radio
- a BBC pop music station, Radio One, was started
7
Q
How did Print Media develop?
A
- The Sun, launched in 1964, set out to be ‘the only newspaper born of the age we live in’.
- In 1969, bought by Australian newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch - associated it with the permissive attitudes of the age and its popularity grew enormously
8
Q
How did leisure time grow?
A
- By the 1960s leisure time expanded as fewer people were expected to work on Saturday mornings and weekends
- By 1969, TV accounted for 23% of leisure time
- DIY and gardening became popular hobbies
- Cookery, needlework and knitting encouraged by new gadgetry
- Shopping became a leisure activity in its own right
9
Q
How did car ownership change?
A
- Accelerated rapidly in the 1960s
- Use of the car grew to account for 77% of journeys by 1974
- Technological improvements meant cars became more affordable
10
Q
Changes in tourism and holidays? - statistic
A
- 1960s saw leisure travel turn into mass tourism as the number of holidays increased
- 1951 - 27 million holidays - 1971 - 41 million holidays
11
Q
What travel company was created and how did travel in Britain change?
A
- Britannia Airways was founded in 1964 to serve holidaymakers wishing to fly to Spain and the Canary Islands, Malta, Bulgaria and North Africa
- Still reserved to the middle classes
- Package holidays grown from under 4% of total holidays in 1966 to 8.4% in 1971 - still in infancy
12
Q
How was there changes in sport mainly football in the 1960s?
A
- Given unexpected boost in 1966 when England won the world cup final
- Football became an arena for young, working class fans, often violent in disposition
- Harold Wilson tried hard to exploit this to divert attention from the political and economic crises of July 1966
13
Q
How did the footballers change?
A
- Archaic restrictions on footballers’ pay had been removed after strike action
- The Northern Irish and Manchester United footballer, George Best, with long hair and highly publicised sex life suggested very different values from the sportsmen of the past
14
Q
What were the developments in scientific development in the 1960s?
A
- In 1961 the first person had gone into space and by 1969 the US had landed on the moon
- Scientific development - key aim
- The Anglo-French partnership continued in aircraft
- The Post Office Tower opened in 1965 to improve telecommunications
15
Q
What were the developments with censorship in the 60s?
A
- In 1967, labour backbencher George Strauss introduced a bill to abolish theatre censorship
- 1968 Theatre Act abolished the Lord Chamberlain’s right to censor stage plays
- result was a series of plays featuring nudity and four-letter words
- Art and music became more radical
- By end of the decade, screen violence and sex had become more acceptable and more explicit
16
Q
What was opposition to changes in censorship? - key figure
A
- Mary Whitehouse began ‘Clean-up TV’ campaign in 1964
- Moral campaigner concerned by these changes
- support led to the National Viewers and Listeners Association in 1955 –> soon had 100,000 members
- little impact
17
Q
Give some examples of films, TV shows and songs that became accepted / were new following this act and less censorship:
A
- Productions: “Hair”, “Oh! Calcutta” and “Fanny Hill”
- 1960s saw a broadening of what was considered acceptable:
- Darling (1965), Alfie (1966), Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (1967)
- Satirical programmes: “That Was The Week That Was” and magazines “Private Eye” –> criticised everyone from the royal family to politicians
18
Q
What was the progress towards women liberation in the 1960s overview?
A
- Seen as the decade which movement emerges
- In 1970 Germaine Greer published her influential text The female Eunuch
19
Q
How was Harold Wilson a reason for the success of the women’s liberation movement ?
What acts did he enact?
A
- Much more alive on women’s issues and ambitions than any other PM
- He included several women in his cabinet including Barbara Castle and Shirley Williams
- Enacted Equal Pay Act and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act - Jenkins too
20
Q
How did the second wave of feminism start?
How did the lives of women change positively in relation to education?
A
- Second wave of feminism started in US when Betty Freidan in 1963 The Feminine Mystique argued that women were unfulfilled and restricted in lives
- Spread to Britain –> education contributed to frustration
- Women accounted for only 28% of students in higher education in the 1970s and only 5% of women ever reached managerial posts
21
Q
How did the lives of women not change in relation to work?
A
- Girls frequently left school at the minimum age and married young
- jobs for women were in the clerical or service sector - no prospects and poor pay
22
Q
How did the lives of women change in terms of sex and marriage with contraceptives?
A
- The NHS Family Planning Act of 1967 allowed local authorities to provide contraceptives and contraceptive planning advice for the first time
- N. of illegitimate births rose from 5.8% in 1960 to 8.2% in 1970, number of marriages ending in divorce also rose
23
Q
What was the feminist movement encouraged by?
A
- encouraged by books and articles exploring position of women E.g. The Female Eunuch (1970)
The feminine mystique (1963)
24
Q
How did the feminist movement take off?
A
- ‘Women’s Lib’ groups sprang up around UK
- Rally in 1969 led to establishment of Women’s Co-ordination Committee
- At Women’s Liberation Conferance 1970 - oxford
- Four demands:
- Equal Pay
- Free contraceptives and abortion on request
- Equal educational and job opportunities
- Free 24 hour childcare
25
What progress was made following the rise of feminist movement?
- The 1970 Matrimonial Property Act established that the work of a wife, in paid employment or at home, should be taken into account in divorce settlements
- The 1970 Equal Pay Act established the principle of equal pay for equal work - not in force until 1975
26
What were the limitations of the feminist movement?
- The ideal of female domesticity still strong throughout 60s
- After election of 24 female MPs in 1945 there was virtually no change and by 1974 there were only 27
- By end of decade inequalities and discrimination still existed and traditional stereotyping of roles remained strong
