Social And Economic Conditions

Question 1

What is the first factor?

Answer 1

• Unemployment

Question 2

What is the first K point for unemployment?

Answer 2

• From 1929 unemployment in Britain rose from 1 million to 3 million at its peak, explained by the process of deinudtsralisation and manufacturing being moved abroad post-WWI.

Question 3

What did did deindustrialisation mean for Britain?

Answer 3

• Britain no longer relied traditional industries such as coal mining, steel and cotton mills, demonstrated by the fact that 35% of coal mines became unemployed by 1932.

Question 4

What did Britain abandoning traditional industries lead to? (A)

Answer 4

• Extremely high levels of unemployment in certain areas of Britain, creating a disproportionate impact and stagnant social mobility.
• Also led to even higher levels of poverty, especially for those on the breadline, highlighting the varied experiences of different classes across certain areas of the country.

Question 5

What do the revisionists argue?

Answer 5

• The experience in the inter-war period depended on where you lived or your social position and recognises that both poverty and increasing wealth coincided.

Question 6

What are some examples of people experiencing good things during the thirties? (K)

Answer 6

• In 1911, white collar jobs accounted for 19% of the workforce, by 1931 this had risen to 23%.
• Unemployment by 1937 had dropped to 1.5m.

Question 7

What does the positive experience of the 30’s show? (A)

Answer 7

• This alternative experience shows that
• although there was increasing hardship for the majority, this was not equal throughout Britain
• as the middle classes saw prosperity during the inter-war period, therefore life was not bleak for all in Britain.

Question 8

What does Gardiner propose? (H)

Answer 8

• ‘Britain was a divided nation.’
• She details the progress that was made for some in new and growing industries such as car manufacturing and textiles and how this allowed for increased wealth and progress for some including amplified home ownership for lower middle classes.

Question 9

What is the overall evaluation for unemployment? (E)

Answer 9

• Overall, life in inter-war Britain was notably marked by hardship, however, hardship was not experienced to the same degree across Britain.

Question 10

What is the second factor?

Answer 10

• Housing

Question 11

How much did the UK invest in housing, and what was the result of it? (K)

Answer 11

• Between 1920-38 nearly £2500m was invested into construction of houses in the UK, resulting in 4.3m houses.
• As raw materials began to fall in price, these new houses became more affordable to the lower classes, making these houses useful in stopping homelessness and poverty.

Question 12

housing/traditionalists

How did government plans for housing show that the thirties was not bad for everyone? (A)

Answer 12

• Therefore, the thirties were not ridden with bleakness for everyone in society like the Traditionalists argue,
• as the housing industry became more accessible to the middle classes; home ownership rose from 10% of families in 1914 to 31% by 1939.

Question 13

What does Mowatt argue, and how does it contribute to the argument? (H)

Answer 13

• Mowatt counters this argument as he states: “Britain was a divided nation at this time.”
• This explains that Britain was instead divided by social class, and although the middle class may have prospered, the working-class did not.

Question 14

How did the working-class suffer with Britain’s housing? (K)

Answer 14

• This is because Britain’s housing stock was owned by private landlords which rented out properties to the working-class, otherwise known as slums.
• The slums were in poor conditions, despite high costs with large over-crowding which lead to many illnesses and deaths around the areas.

Question 15

What do the working-class experiences with housing show? (A)

Answer 15

• In contrast to the previous statement about housing improving, the working-class were very neglected by the government
• as they failed to deliver plans of slum clearances to make Britain better for the majoirty, showing that life was bleak for lower social classes.

Question 16

What is the overall evaluation for housing? (E)

Answer 16

• Overall, the assessment of the 1930s clearly depended on what social class you were in, as the working-class experiences contrast compared to their richer-counterparts in terms of housing.

Question 17

What is the third factor?

Answer 17

• Health

Question 18

What was the general trend of health in the 1930s? (K)

Answer 18

• Large improvement in quality of health, shown by fall of mortality rates (14.7 per 1000 in 1906 compared to 12 in 1936.)
• Also can be seen through infant mortality rates, and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, and the rising life expectancy of men + women.

Question 19

How did health improve in Britain? (K)

Answer 19

• This is because the quality of the health-service in Britain improved both in a preventative and curative way with more healthcare available to the public, alongside the growing expertise of doctors.

Question 20

What do many Historians argue? (H/K)

Answer 20

• Many argue that health only improved due to the insurance scheme which gave benefits to workers who could afford it if sick, such as sick pay and some free medical services.

Question 21

How does the improvements of health go against the traditionalist view?

Answer 21

• Goes against traditionalist view because a large proportion of the British public received drastic improvements to their health and quality of life which wasn’t offered to the public before even if it was affordable.

Question 22

york

What is the counter-argument against health?

Answer 22

• Wasn’t equal to working-class, shown by Rowntree’s study of York in 1936,
• The death rate 8.4 per 1000 for those above the poverty line, and 13.5 per 1000 below the poverty line.

Question 23

How did the working-class still suffer in terms of health-care?

Answer 23

• The working-class suffered as women and children were not covered by it and many could not afford to get this.
• This further cements economic inequalities as there is a huge disadvantage to those experiencing poverty in terms of health.

Question 24

What is the overall evaluation for healthcare?

Answer 24

• Overall, the term that ‘Britain was a divided nation’ is correct in terms of healthcare as it depended on what social class you were in and what treatments were avaliable to you, showing heavy inequalities.

Question 25

What is the final factor?

Answer 25

• Education

Question 26

Was there inequalities in education?

Answer 26

• There was still a very prominent unequal access to education between social classes.

Question 27

How did the working-class suffer with education? (K)

Answer 27

• Working class unable to access education due to tuition fees which parents couldn’t afford, despite that since 1907, 1/4 of schools should have been free to those who passed a certain exam.
• Despite this act, this never always happened and many children could not access a good education.

Question 28

How did the government try to tackle inequalities in education? (K)

Answer 28

• Government raised school leaving age to 14.

Question 29

wages

How was Government intervention proved useless? (K)

Answer 29

• Many children were not able to stay on in school as they needed to work. Being in school was too unaffordable for many families as they depended on their children for wages to live.
• This led to a high resentment towards secondary education, as it remained unachieveable for the struggling population in Britain.

Question 30

What does the Government’s failed intervention show? (A)

Answer 30

• This highlights the struggles faced by the working-class in terms of getting an education and shows the bleak assessment of Britain’s socio-economic conditions as fair.

Question 31

What does Castlow say? (H)

Answer 31

• “From the age of 5 until the age of 14, most children left school to enter the world of work, or to stay at home and help look after younger siblings.”
• She acknolwdges that working-class children fell into the familiar pattern of leaving school without a secondary education.

Question 32

What is the counter-argument towards education? (P)

Answer 32

• Education experienced by the middle-class was contrasted to that of the lower-classes.

Question 33

What did Grammar Schools provide wealthier children? (K)

Answer 33

• Grammar schools gave wealthier children access to school certificates which helped them get into top universities and white-collar professions.
• These were mainly filled by middle and upper-class students due to tuition fees and social expectations.

Question 34

expels

What is the result of the unequal education? (A)

Answer 34

• This expels lower-class children from these advantages because there was little scholarships avaliable for them, which shows the difference in education between social classes.

Question 35

What was the contradiction of grammar schools? (K)

Answer 35

• Despite grammar schools, university students rose from 42,000 to 50,000 between 1924-38 (less than 2% of 19-year-olds), which was lower than any other European country.

Question 36

What does the contraditction of grammar schools show? (A)

Answer 36

• This shows the majority of children were excluded from the secondary education system and as a result university student rates were much lower.
• This gives a clear insight into the bleak assessment of education as these negative impacts can be seen all across Britian, affecting both its economy and its social classes in various ways.

Question 37

What is the overall evaluation for education?

Answer 37

• Overall, education in Britain was clearly a struggling factor in determining social and economic conditions in the country, and it is more than justified that the negative assessment of 1930s Britain is valid in this sense.