Social Change 1: Interwar Social Change Flashcards
1
Q
HOLIDAYS
A
- Holidays with Pay Act - 1938.
- 1935 - 1.5m/18.5m had holiday pay. In 1938, 7.75m benefited from holiday pay.
- By 1920, Blackpool had around 8 million visitors a year.
- Used to be enjoyed by the wealthy - but working class were now able to enjoy holidays by the seaside.
2
Q
MUSIC
A
- Changed from slow dances in the 1920s to swing in 1930s.
- The younger generation visited Dance Halls as an escape from everyday life - American dances such as the Charleston and Jive.
- Music was much more accessible to the working class, as it was now played in smaller venues.
- The Twenties are often called the Jazz Age because Jazz music had an enormous cultural effect.
3
Q
TRANSPORT
A
CARS
- Prices halved between 1924 and 1938.
- First official driving test - 1934.
- The formation of roads provided 1.4m jobs by 1939.
PLANES
- 1935 - British Airways
- 1924 Imperial Airways - to convey a nationalistic image of pre-war British power.
TRAINS
- The government took control of the British railways during WW1.
- 1921 Railway Act merged all 120 companies into 4.
4
Q
REGIONAL VARIATION
A
- South Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland suffered.
- Competition from Germany and America - owed America a huge debt financially.
- Special Areas Act - 1934.
+Tried to regenerate deprived areas through financial means.
+Included grants of £2 million. - Britain returned to the Gold Standard after WW1 to maintain its power - post-war prices were steeper than pre-war.
+The government increased taxes, leading to unemployment.
5
Q
CINEMA
A
- Usually females from urban towns visited.
- By 1939, 4,776 cinemas in Britain.
- British films WW1 were about to collapse due to funding, distribution and use of studios for propaganda.
- Led by conservative middle-class men concerned about the impact cinema had on impressional people.
6
Q
CONSUMPTION OF CONSUMER GOODS
A
- 1926 - 730,000 homes had electricity. By 1938, this rose to 9m. By 1961, 96% had electricity.
- The number of private (non-commercial) vehicles rose from 187,000 in 1920 to 1,523,000 by 1939.
+Rise in the standard of living, more money, hire purchase.
7
Q
FOOTBALL
A
- Football appealed to the working-class. Cheap and available tickets.
- Rise of football was aided by radio.
+The 1927 FA Cup Final was the first game to be broadcast on the radio.
In 1934, 85,000 fans crammed into Man City’s former ground Maine Road - only bettered once. - The War meant people turned to football as a form of escapism.
- Football grew across the UK, from the teams of the industrial workers in the North of England such as Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End, to teams in the better off areas of the UK.
