Social developments, 1964 - 1979

Question 1

Technology and science

Answer 1

Remarkable advances.

Contributed to the development of British society, particularly in areas of work and science.

Question 2

Television

Answer 2

International television transmission was made possible in 1962, by the launch of Telestar, a US satellite communications system.
The Goonhilly Satellite Earth station in Cornwall, developed into the largest satellite station in the world. It provided 60 communications dished enabling worldwide television connections to be made.

Question 3

Aerospace

Answer 3

The De Havilland Comet jetliner came into service in 1952.
One result of the invention of low cost, long range jet travel was that it revolutionised leisure opportunities for British people.

Question 4

Chemicals

Answer 4

The British chemical giant- Imperial Chemical Industries led the way in a wide range of scientific development.
Produced synthetic materials and began to develop a range of pharmaceuticals. Also manufactured advanced forms of anaesthetics, disinfectants and pesticides.

Question 5

Atomic energy

Answer 5

In 1947, the Labour government took the decision to make Britain into a nuclear power.
In 1954, the UK atomic energy authority was established, its role was to oversee policies for the civilian and defence use of atomic energy and for the development of research.
By 1958, they had carried out over 20 nuclear weapons tests.

Question 6

Motor cars

Answer 6

M1 motorway was opened in 1959.
Breeching report reduced the total length of railway lines from 13,000 to 9000 miles.
No truly integrated plan for roads emerged.

Question 7

Response to technology

Answer 7

Wilson promised that Britain would catch up with the white heat of technological change.
Set up a newly formed ministry of technology, which was headed by Frank Cousins.

Question 8

Leisure

Answer 8

Rapid spread of technology.
By the early 1960s, 4 out of 5 homes had a TV set.
Having a car was one of the most liberating features for ordinary people, giving individuals and families a sense of independence and opening access to a wide range of leisure pursuits.
Traditional activities, such as sporting events, had to compete with TV for audiences.
By 1955, 90% of British workers took an annual 2 week paid holiday. The seaside was a popular destination for working class families, and holiday camps such as Butlins.

Question 9

The media

Answer 9

Newspapers remained a powerful medium for influencing opinions and shaping attitudes.
Estimated that 2/3 of the adult population read a daily newspaper.
Press council came together in 19534. This was a body of newspaper proprietors who came together as a voluntary organisation with the aim of encouraging the maintenance of the highest standards of journalism.

Question 10

Equality

Answer 10

Significant progress for women was largely a response to the development of the feminist movement in the 1960s.
Germaine Greer’s book, The Female Eunuch, provided the most powerful/ convincing intellectual argument yet advanced for women’s rights.
1960s saw a sexual revolution- advanced female emancipation.
The Pill became widely available in the 1960s, and being nearly 100% reliable it was truly liberating.
What was needed was a fundamental change of attitude in society.

Question 11

Laws passed in the 1970s to advance equality

Answer 11

Equal pay act 1970- women were to receive the same rates of pay as men.
Finance act 1971- allowed the earnings of a married couple to be taxed separately if they applied.
Employment protection act 1975- denied employers the right to dismissed employers when they were pregnant and required them to offer paid maternity leave.
Sex discrimination act 1975- outlawed discrimination of the grounds of sex. Set up the equal opportunities commission to monitor the act.
Social security act 1975- provided a special maternity allowance fund.
Social security pension act- required pension schemes to be open equally to women engaged in the same work as men.

Question 12

The abortion act

Answer 12

1967.
Permitted the legal termination of a pregnancy when 2 doctors certified that there was a serious risk to the physical or mental health of the month, or a strong possibility that the baby would be born with serious abnormalities.
By 2007, over 5 million abortions had taken place since the act.
For example, in 1975 there were 106,648 abortions.

Question 13

The media

Answer 13

Newspapers remained a powerful medium for influencing opinions and shaping attitudes.
Estimated that 2/3 of the adult population read a daily newspaper.
Press council came together in 19534. This was a body of newspaper proprietors who came together as a voluntary organisation with the aim of encouraging the maintenance of the highest standards of journalism.

Question 14

Lady Chatterley case

Answer 14

1960.
In 1959, the government had introduced the obscene publications act. It contained a clause that excluded from prosecution supposedly obscene works which were published in the interests of science, literature, art or learning.
In 1960, Penguin books chose to publish D.H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s liver, a novel which contained the frequent use of 4 letter words and descriptions of sex.
Penguin were promptly prosecuted. The trial became a test case, and there are certainty grounds for regarding the not-guilty verdict as the beginning of the permissive age in literature.

Question 15

Laws passed in the 1970s to advance equality

Answer 15

Equal pay act 1970- women were to receive the same rates of pay as men.
Finance act 1971- allowed the earnings of a married couple to be taxed separately if they applied.

Question 16

Television

Answer 16

TV companies became more relaxed in what they allowed to be broadcast.
in 1963, the National Viewers and listeners association led to a spirited attack on what she regarded as the debased standards and immorality of much of public broadcasting.
Her efforts were matched by Lord Longford, a Labour peer, who campaigned in the 1960s and 1970s against the open sale and availability of pornography.

Question 17

Permissiveness and censorship

Answer 17

Many saw these advancements as an abandonment of moral values.
The abortion act and the sexual offences act helped to create an atmosphere in which the old taboos were broken down.

Question 18

Lady Chatterley case

Answer 18

1960.
In 1959, the government had introduced the obscene publications act. It contained a clause that excluded from prosecution supposedly obscene works which were published in the interests of science, literature, art or learning.
In 1960, Penguin books chose to publish D.H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s liver, a novel which contained the frequent use of 4 letter words and descriptions of sex.
Penguin were promptly prosecuted. The trial became a test case, and there are certainty grounds for regarding the not-guilty verdict as the beginning of the permissive age in literature.

Question 19

Theatres act

Answer 19

1968.
Effectively ended theatre censorship by removing the outdated system by which plays had to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for approval before they could be performed.

Question 20

Television

Answer 20

TV companies became more relaxed in what they allowed to be broadcast.
in 1963, the National Viewers and listeners association led to a spirited attack on what she regarded as the debased standards and immorality of much of public broadcasting.
Her efforts were matched by Lord Longford, a Labour peer, who campaigned in the 1960s and 1970s against the open sale and availability of pornography.

Question 21

The open university

Answer 21

1969. .
      Enabled previously unqualified students to read for degrees by studying course broadcast on radio and television.
      Harold Wilson claimed that was his greatest achievement as PM.

Question 22

Ombudsman

Answer 22

1967. A special parliamentary officer, the Ombudsman was appointment to whom ordinary citizens could appeal if they felt they had suffered an abuse of authority by a government department.

Question 23

Abolition of the death penalty

Answer 23

1969.
Ended the death sentences (previously abandoned in 1965.)
Opinion polls suggest that the majority of people were for the retention of the death penalty.

Question 24

Divorce reforms act

Answer 24

1969.

The act allowed couples to divorce on the grounds of the irretrievable breakdown of their relationship.

Question 25

Rivers of blood speech

Answer 25

1968. Enoch Powell.
      He believed that unlimited immigration was a threat to the character of the UK.
      In a notorious speech, he gave his vision of a future Britain shattered by racial conflict.
      This was condemned by all, and Heath felt obligated to dismiss him from the shadow cabinet.

Question 26

Race

Answer 26

The riots and disturbances had altered the government to the racial tensions in certain parts of Britain.

Question 27

Race relations act

Answer 27

1965 and 1968.
Together, they were responsible for:
Prohibition of racial discrimination in public.
Making incitement to racial hatred an offence.
Setting up a race relations board with the power to investigate complaints of racial discrimination.
Setting up a community race relations commission to provide inter-racial understanding.

Question 28

Sex

Answer 28

Sexual behaviour would quickly become an expression of protest and liberation.
The availability of the contraceptive pill and of drugs provided an opportunity for experimentation that was seized by the young.
The right of women to become single mothers became more widely accepted.
By 1970, 10% of babies were born to single mothers, up from 4% in 1914.

Question 29

Rivers of blood speech

Answer 29

1968. Enoch Powell.
      He believed that unlimited immigration was a threat to the character of the UK.

Question 30

CND

Answer 30

In 1958, they embarked on what became an annual Easter march which followed a 50 mile route from London to the nuclear missile site at Aldermaston.
Attracted around 100,000.
Its aim was radical but not revolutionary.
1/2 of those who attended the marches were aged under 20.

Question 31

Drugs

Answer 31

In the early 1960s, some young people began to experiment with hallucinatory drugs.
Drugs became popular with the young middle class. `

Question 32

Sex

Answer 32

Sexual behaviour would quickly become an expression of protest and liberation.
The availability of the contraceptive pill and of drugs provided an opportunity for experimentation that was seized by the young.
The right of women to become single mothers became more widely accepted.
By 1970, 10% of babies were born to single mothers, up from 4% in 1914.

Question 33

The swinging sixties

Answer 33

In 1960s there was an explosion of popular music.
Commercial boom time, with recording companies rushing to sign the most talented performs e.g. the Beatles.
Carnaby Street became the centre of fashion for the young. It shops and boutiques sold the mod and hippy clothing styles, created by new designers e.g. Mary Quant.
The 1960s, saw a continuation of the fight between rival mods and rockers.
Interpreted as a broad protest against the system and the Establishment.

Question 34

University protests

Answer 34

Saw a growth in the number of universities.
LSE in 1967, when some staff and students organised a 10-day occupation of the administration block to protest against the appointment of Walter Adams.
This readiness to demonstrate on wider issues such as race was to become a key feature of the protests of the 1970s.

Question 35

Key charities

Answer 35

They played a role in awakening the public’s social conscience by putting pressure of the government for funding and support.
Examples:
Action on child poverty
Shelter