T2 Social Cultural

Question 1

Social – Cultural History Context

Answer 1

• Roy Jenkins was Home Secretary from December 1965 onwards, and the following two years have been characterised as the ‘liberal hour’.
• There had been considerable changes in society since WW2 fuelled by rising affluence, the emergence of the teenager and new technologies.
• However, some of the liberal legislation delivered between 1965 – 1968 was seen as quite controversial, suggesting it was ahead of its time in many respects.
• It is important to note that Labour Party had not included liberal reforms in their election manifestos, and that the likes of Wilson and Callaghan were quite conservative in this regard.
• The majority of the liberalising reforms were Private Members Bills, which were successful because Jenkins was sympathetic and as Home Secretary ensured that there was enough time given in Parliament to get the Bills through.

Question 2

Roy Jenkins as Home Secretary (1965 - 1967)

Answer 2

• When Royal Jenkin’s became Wilson’s home Secretary he found himself able to influence society.
• In 1959 the Labour MP Roy Jenkins produced a book The Labour Case, in which he laid down the principles of a civilised society.
• Society had already undergone considerable change since the 1950s, but changes in the law were needed if ‘personal freedom’ was to be allowed to develop further.
• By the end of the 1960s some of the old social taboos and prejudices which Roy Jenkins deemed prejudicial to a ‘civilised society’ began to break down.
• Such change was, of course, a gradual evolution and not only the result of government legislation [laws].
• Developments causing social change had been occurring since the 1950s such as greater affluence, youth culture and the spread of technology, all played a part.
• Indeed, it could be argued that such changes ‘from the top’ by government merely reflected changes that were already in evidence ‘from below’ within society.
• Liberal social reforms, particularly those relating to censorship, homosexuality, divorce, abortion and the death penalty, may be said to mark an important stage in the modernising of British social attitudes.

Question 3

The Role of Private Members Bills

Answer 3

• The Labour government did not set out with a ‘liberalising’ social agenda and their 1964 election manifesto made no mention of moral issues.
• Labour leaders including Harold Wilson were conservative on many moral issues and many MPs remained suspicious of change.
• The laws on what are considered moral questions were usually ‘free votes’ in parliament.
• Free votes were where individual MPs could vote according to their own moral conscience rather than following an official party line or a ‘whipped vote’ [explained in the table below].
• The Labour Party also favoured the use of ‘expert witnesses’ and a technical and rational approach to amending social laws governing moral issues.
• Although the vast majority of proposed legislation [laws] passing through Parliament is government sponsored bills, there is also the provision for backbench MPs from any political party to propose legislation through Private Members’ Bills.
• The 1960s saw backbench MPs bring forward a number of proposed social reforms through these private members bills.
• They were successful because Roy Jenkins, as Home Secretary, was sympathetic and so enabled enough parliamentary time to be available for the social reforms to be passed.
• Therefore, the social reform measures were not always a result of Roy Jenkins’ direct personal initiative.
• The abortion law, for example, was introduced by the Liberal MP David Steel. But it was Jenkins’ support and encouragement of progress.

Question 4

The Legalisation of Abortion (1967)

Answer 4

• Until 1967 abortion, except on strict medical grounds was illegal.
• The rich could use private clinics in relative safety, the poor had to resort to dangerous ‘backstreet’ abortions – which killed 82 women between 1958-1960.
• It was estimated that between 100,000-200,000 illegal abortions happened each year.
• The thalidomide disaster between 1959-1962 also persuaded many that abortions could be justified/necessary.
• The Abortion Law Reform Association also campaigned since 1945 for changes, although they were opposed by the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child from 1966, which campaigned against changes they believed would lead to abortion on demand.
• The Liberal MP David Steel led the campaign in the Commons, and Jenkins ensured an all night sitting to get the bill through.
• The Abortion Act of 1967 allowed the legal termination of a pregnancy in the first 28 weeks, with the signature of two doctors, on the grounds of mental or physical suffering.
• However, the hopes that better contraception and education would reduce demand for abortions proved false – with abortions rising from 35,000 in 1968 to 141,000 in 1975.

Question 5

The Legalisation of Homosexual Relations (1967)

Answer 5

• Up until the 1960’s men could be imprisoned for two years for participating in homosexual acts
• The Conservative governments pre-1964 had taken quite a hard line against homosexuals, particularly as there appeared to be a connection between homosexuals and spy scandals such as Burgess and Maclean.
• The Conservative government had rejected the Wolfenden Report recommendation to decriminalise the issue, and Labour appeared divided on the issue.
• The Labour backbencher Leo Abse brought in a Private Members Bill, and Jenkins provided support by attending each reading of the bill and ensuring sufficient parliamentary time.
• The 1967 Sexual Relations Act did not legalise homosexual acts, but it did decriminalise them providing that both partners were over 21, consenting, and the acts were in private.
• This was welcomed by many, however, did not completely end prosecutions, as the Act was strictly interpreted as in private meaning nobody else being in the same building.

Question 6

Divorce Reform (1969)

Answer 6

• Until Labour’s legislation, divorce was largely for the rich as adultery had to be proven, often requiring employing private detectives or cameras.
• The Divorce Reform Act was passed in 1969, allowing a couple to divorce on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown and a period of separation of 2 years if both agreed, or 5 years if not
• Following the reform there was a big increase in the number of divorces, in 1950 there were 2 divorces per 1000, by the mid 1970’s it was up to 10 per 1000, an upward trend that has now reached 500 per 1000.

Question 7

The End of Capital Punishment (1969)

Answer 7

• Arguments in favour of ending capital punishment had been advanced in the 1950’s.
• Anti-hanging campaigners could point to the controversial case of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in 1955. She was executed for killing an abusive partner in a case that attracted a lot of headlines and sympathy.
• The Conservatives had reduced the number of offences that would result in the death penalty in 1957, however the Labour backbench MP Sydney Silverman continued to campaign for complete abolition.
• In 1965 on a free vote it was decided to abolish hanging for a trial 5 years, although this was made permanent in 1969.
• Jenkins also banned corporal punishment of prisoners.
• Jenkins introduced majority verdicts instead of unanimity – which helped convict more dangerous criminals.
• The abolition of hanging did not help reduce the numbers of murders or violent offences.
• Opinion polls seemed to suggest the majority of the public still favoured capital punishment in 1969 – so this is a case of Parliament leading on moral issues.

Question 8

Context - Science, Technology, Leisure

Answer 8

• TV – international TV transmission made possible by 1962 launch of Telstar – a US satellite communication system. The UK contributed with the Goonhilly Satellite Station in Cornwall – by
  the early 1960’s it was the largest satellite station in the world – enabling world wide TV connections.
• By the early 1960’s 4/5 of families owned a TV.
• In 1965 the Post Office Tower, the tallest building in the UK, opened to improve telecommunications.
• Aerospace – began to become more prominent after the 1952 Comet jetliner introduced by the Herfordshire De Havilland Company. During the Wilson years, Britain and France continued to collaborate to develop the Concorde.
• Improvements in air travel led to increasing holidays abroad, from 2 million in 1951 to 7 million by 1971.
• Britain’s chemical firm ICI produced synthetics like Perspex and lycra, and led the way in new medicines for malaria and some forms of cancer.
• Motor cars – 2.3 million in 1950, 11.8 million by 1965.

Question 9

Mass Media

Answer 9

• Hugh Greene as Director-General of the BBC in 1960 set out to transform the channel, particularly given the challenge from ITV since 1955.
• More modern styles of news delivery were adopted, guidelines on swearing and nudity revised, and more popular shows commissioned.
• BBC 2 launched in 1964, and became the first channel to regularly broadcast colour programmes
• Radio survived, and became more modern following the prosecution of Pirate Radio stations such as Radio Luxemburg.
• Newspapers continued to be an important part of the media, although the political balance became out of kilter following Ruport Murdoch’s acquisition of The Sun – with a lurch to the right wing. The Sun became one of the more popular papers, linked with the sense of permissiveness of the Labour years.

Question 10

The end of censorship

Answer 10

• Traditionally plays had to gain a license from the Lord Chamberlain’s office.
• When the controversial play ‘Early Morning’ was denied a license in 1967, the back-bench MP George Strauss brought a Private Members bill to abolish theatrical censorship, which passed with Jenkin’s support in 1968.
• This allowed nudity on stage, celebrated in the production of Hair in 1968.
• While films were still strictly categorized by the British Board of Film Censors, the 1960’s saw a broadening of what was allowed – with films such as Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush being more daring.
• Literature was becoming more permissive following the Lady Chatterley ruling of the early 1960’s, which enshrined the principle that ‘obscene’ works which were published in the interests of science, literature, art or learning’ were immune from censorship under the terms of the 1959 Obscene Publications Act of 1959.

Question 11

Criticisms of the ‘permissive’ society

Answer 11

• Some in society thought that the liberalising reforms and the impact of reductions in censorship had fundamentally weakened the moral fibre of the nation. Britain had become a ‘permissive’ society’ where anything was allowed – sexual immorality, drugs, hedonism etc.
• The Catholic Church was critical of the Sexual Relations Act and the Abortion Act.
• Sexually transmitted infections were on the rise, and some of the liberal reforms led to a spike in what some saw as wrongful activities, such as abortions and divorce.
• Mary Whitehouse was an outspoken critic of the reduction in censorship and the perceived decline in moral standards – setting up the National Viewers and Listeners Association in 1965, which soon attracted 100,000 members.
• Despite Whitehouse’s lobbying, it proved impossible for her to stem the liberal flow.
• The Dangerous Drugs Act of 1967 did respond to concerns about the spread of drug culture, making it illegal to possess cannabis and cocaine, and the maximum sentence for supplying drugs was increased to 14 years.
• The Wootton Report had recommended decriminalising cannabis – in this case the new Home Secretary Callaghan was trying the ‘stem the flow’ of permissiveness.
• corner shops and international food, and youth culture was also influenced by immigrant communities.

Question 12

Second Wave Feminism

Answer 12

• Second-Wave Feminism had started in the United States when Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, argued that women were unfulfilled with these restricted lives.
• Other famous second-wave feminist works included Women: The Longest Revolution by Juliet Mitchell published in 1966 and The Female Eunuch published by Germaine Greer in 1970.
• This spread to Britain where the growth in female education, especially for the middle classes, contributed to growing frustration.
• Few women made it to the top of the professions. Women accounted for only 28% of students in higher education in 1970 and only 5% of women ever reached managerial posts.
• At the lower end of the social scale, girls’ education at school still carried a domestic slant with subjects like Home Economics and girls frequently left school at the minimum age and married young.
• There were no shortage of jobs for women (not least, because before 1970 employers could pay them less than men for doing the same job) but many of these were in the clerical and service sector with no prospects and poor pay.
• Some women wanted to work, even when they had children, but working mothers were often portrayed as unnatural and selfish by the media.
• Childminders were rare in the 1960s and private nurseries were only available for the wealthy.
• The introduction of the female contraceptive pill in 1961 can be seen as a move towards equality, as far as sex is concerned.
• Initially, the pill was only prescribed to married women by GPs.
• The National Health Service (Family Planning) Act of 1967, however, allowed local authorities to provide contraceptives and contraceptive advice for the first time to single women.
• The pill gave women control over their own fertility, allowed them to pursue a career and have some financial independence.
• One downside, however, to the pill was that without the threat of pregnancy, men were more able to easily pressure women into having sex.
• Changing social attitudes, however, meant that the number of illegitimate births rose from 5.8% to 8.2% between 1960 and 1970.
• The number of marriages ending in divorce also began to rise.

Question 13

The 1968 Dagenham Women Workers Strike

Answer 13

• In 1968 the Ford car factory in Dagenham employed 50,000 male workers, but just 187 women.
• The women sewed the car seat covers using a sewing machine and strips of leather. Ford’s management regraded their job to ‘unskilled’.
• The situation the women were fighting was around grading rather than pay, initially. Despite their job requiring two years’ training, the female machinists were classified as unskilled B-grade workers, the same as floor sweepers, with the equivalent pay and pensions to cleaners.
• All of the women went on strike, and it led to the factory having to temporarily close as without chair covers the cars could not be finished.
• At the height of the strikes the Dagenham women met Employment Secretary Barbara Castle. She promised a pay rise bringing them up to 92% of the unskilled men’s wage – an improvement on their existing 85%, but still far from equal pay or the grading change they demanded.
• The Dagenham women kept up their campaign, walking out again in 1984 and finally gaining their new skilled status.

Question 14

The National Women’s Liberation Conference (1970)

Answer 14

• There were several ‘Women’s Lib’ groups which sprang up across Britain to campaign for social and economic equality for women.
• A rally in Britain in 1969 led to the establishment of the Women’s National Coordination Committee, which brought various strands of the feminist movement together.
• At the first National Women’s Liberation Conference held at Ruskin College, Oxford University, in February 1970 four demands were put forward to enhance women’s rights:
• Equal Pay.
• Free Contraceptives and Abortion upon request.
• Equal Educational & Job Opportunities
• Free 24-Hour Childcare.

Question 15

The 1970 Matrimonial Act

Answer 15

• Some progress for women were made. The 1970 Matrimonial Act established that the work of a wife, whether that be in paid employment or unpaid in the home raising children, should be considered in divorce settlements.

Question 16

The 1970 Equal Pay Act

Answer 16

• The 1970 Equal Pay Act established the principal of equal pay for equal work, although it did not come into force for another five years until 1975, to give employers time to adjust.

Question 17

1960s Race Relations

Answer 17

• The continuing influx of immigration from the New Commonwealth meant that the social tensions experienced in the late 1950s and early 1960s did not go away.
• A survey in North London in 1965 showed that one in five objected to working with black people or Asians, half said they would refuse to live next door to a black person and nine out of ten disapproved of mixed marriages.

Question 18

The 1964 Racist Smethwick Constituency Campaign

Answer 18

• Harold Wilson’s first Queen’s Speech was notable because of its call to the Conservatives to reject the Conservative Peter Griffith (MP for Smethwick) for his racist campaign.
• The 1964 Smethwick campaign was ill-tempered, and the Conservatives used the campaign slogan: ‘If you want a ni**er for a neighbour, vote labour’. Wilson stated that Peter Griffith should serve his time in the House of Commons as a ‘parliamentary leper’.

Question 19

The 1965 Race Relations Act

Answer 19

• In 1965 the Labour government passed the first Race Relations Act.
• This forbade discrimination in public places ‘on the grounds of colour, race or ethnic or national origins.’
• Discrimination, however, in both housing and unemployment were excluded.

Question 20

The Race Relations Board

Answer 20

• The Race Relations Board was set up to consider discrimination complaints and to take part in publicity, research and other aspects of race relations.
• The Race Relations Board, however, could not compel witnesses to attend hearings and although it handed 982 complaints in its first year, 734 were dismissed through dismissed through lack of evidence.

Question 21

The 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Act

Answer 21

• In February 1968, alarm over the sudden influx of Kenyan Asians prompted the government to pass a new Commonwealth Immigration Act, limiting the right of return to Britain for non-white Commonwealth citizens.
• The 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act was introduced by the Conservatives, sought to limit the number of immigrants from the Commonwealth to those with a government issued employment voucher.
• At the time Labour considered this act to be nothing more than anti-colour legislation. Once in power, however, Wilson’s Labour government strengthened this act with the 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Act, further restricting the right of entry.
• This was done in part due to the fears of the UK being ‘swamped’ by Asian immigrants from Kenya.
• The initial 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act came about because of Kenyan independence, while the 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Act because the Kenyan government forced residents who were not citizens to apply for British ‘entry certificates.
• This targeted Kenyan Indians and Kenyan Pakistanis specifically.
• This was because many had chosen not to become Kenyan citizens upon independence, preferring instead to keep their British passports.
• James Callaghan, the Labour’s Home Secretary, was worried about the Kenyan Asians and about the number of them that might arrive, estimating it could be 200,000.
• There was growing concern among the British public, particularly in areas where the immigration would have greater impact, such as Bradford and Southall.
• The right-wing media whipped up a frenzy, and Callaghan had to do something.
• The 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Act easily passed through parliament and became law on 1st March 1968.

Question 22

Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood Speech’

Answer 22

• The furor over the arrival of Kenyan Asians prompted Enoch Powell to make his notorious ‘rivers of blood’ speech in April 1968.
• Enoch Powell addressing the Conservative Political Centre at the Midland Hotel, Birmingham, April 1968: As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman Prophet, “I see the Tiber foaming with much blood.’
• Powell was strongly condemned by the liberal establishment.
• Edward Heath, leader of the Conservative Party, not only sacked him from the Shadow Cabinet but never spoke to him again. The reaction from public opinion was very different.
• There were strikes by dockers and meat porters in London and a protest march to Downing Street in response to his sacking.
• A Gallup Poll found that 75% of the British population supported what Powell had said.

Question 23

The 1968 Race Relations Act

Answer 23

• Wilson’s Labour government introduced a further race relations act in 1968.
• The 1968 Race Relations Act banned racial discrimination in housing, employment, insurance and other services. The Race Relations Board was given stronger powers.
• There were, however, still loopholes. Employers could discriminate against non-whites in the interest of ‘racial balance’ and complaints against the police were excluded from the law.
• Furthermore, the Race Relations Board upheld only 10% of the 1241 complaints it received about discriminatory employment between 1968 and 1972.
• The number of complaints remained low because victims had little faith in getting effective redress.

Question 24

Positive 1960s Race Relations

Answer 24

• There were, however, also positive aspects to immigration and evidence of communities living together without problems. The Notting Hill Carnival became an annual event from 1964 onwards.
• The appearance of Asian corner shops and Chinese takeaways introduced new foodstuffs.
• Youth culture drew from the ethnic communities in music, fashion and street life.
• Hippies of the late 1960s wore Indian and African cottons, Arabian pants and Indian scarfs and ethnic beads.
• Others enjoyed the musical styles of the Caribbean, such as ska, or were attracted by Eastern ways and customs following The Beatles band’s ‘conversion’ under the guidance of the Maharaja Mahesh Yogi to meditation, yoga, ‘love and peace’, as well as soft drugs.

Question 25

Harold Wilson & The Vietnam War

Answer 25

* Harold Wilson was himself personally very pro-American and committed to Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the United States during the 1960s. * The Cold War was ongoing, and Wilson wanted to ensure that the United States stayed committed to the defence of Europe.

Question 26

The Vietnam War

Answer 26

* The Vietnam War had begun in 1955. Vietnam had been divided into two states, a communist north and a non-communist south. * The United States supported the government of the non-communist south against Viet Cong rebels, who were northern communist guerrilla soldiers. * Up until 1964 this support had been limited but it escalated after 1964 as the US became increasingly directly involved in the war. * The war was extremely controversial and unpopular at the time due to the evidence of atrocities and high casualties caused by the conflict. * The war would end in 1975 when the United States would withdraw from Vietnam and the Viet Cong took over the whole country.

Question 27

Wilson’s Attitude to the Vietnam War

Answer 27

* From the time of the US escalation of the Vietnam War in 1964, the US president, Lyndon B. Johnson, wanted to gain support and approval from the United States allies. * Australia sent troops to Vietnam and Johnson wanted Britain to do the same. * Wilson, however, resisted any direct military involvement despite his good relationship with Johnson. * The British response to the Vietnam War was a difficult balancing act for Wilson: he wanted to maintain the Atlantic Alliance, but the Vietnam War became hugely unpopular in Britain, especially with the Labour left wing, so he risked losing political support at home if he was seen to be too publicly supportive of the war. * Also, there were economic and financial considerations. Britain could not really afford military involvement; but Wilson also needed the United States to support the value of Sterling and to avoid a devaluation, so he could not afford to alienate [upset] the United States. * In the end, Wilson’s Vietnam Foreign Policy position can be summed up as providing the United States public moral support, but without any military support. * This annoyed not only the United States that wanted greater backing, but also a number of left wing Labour MPs who wanted the Labour government to condemn the US actions in the Vietnam War.

Question 28

Anti-Vietnam War Riots

Answer 28

* Youth culture and political activism merged in opposition to the controversial Vietnam War in the late 1960s. * In the summer of 1965, there were teach-ins on Vietnam at Oxford University and the London School of Economics (LSE). * The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign or VSC was set up in 1966 gaining considerable support amongst university students.

Question 29

The Battle of Grosvenor Square (1968)

Answer 29

* On 17th March 1968, there were violent scenes at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in London, near the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square. * On 28th March a still more violent protest known as the Battle of Grosvenor Square took place, ending with over 200 people being arrested. * The final demonstration in October 1968 in which 30,000 people took part, was however, relatively peaceful.

Question 30

University Student Protests

Answer 30

* The year 1968 also saw several anti-war protests, often combined with demands for more student power, in a variety of different universities. * At Sussex, a speaker on the Vietnam War, from the American Embassy, was covered in red paint, while at Essex, two Conservative MPs were physically attacked. * The Labour Secretary of State for Education and Science was shouted down in Manchester, and Denis Healey, the Labour Defence Secretary, almost had his car overturned by Cambridge students.

Question 31

Global 1968 Student Protests

Answer 31

* The year 1968 was a defining year for protest. * There was a wave of upheavals, mainly in the form of street protests, in the USA, France, Italy, and in communist Eastern Europe. * The most extreme riots, in Paris in May 1968, provoked a crisis of public order, bringing the country close to political revolution. * In the United States, African Americans fought for civil rights and in Northern Ireland, the civil rights protests grew about Protestant discrimination against Catholics.