T3 Social Cultural Flashcards
1
Q
British 1970s Feminism
A
- It was only gradually that radical analysis of society, economy and culture returned to the position of women and its significance.
- When they did so, the language of the discourse drew well on the well-established discussions of race and imperialism; so that the term ‘Women’s Liberation’ was widely adopted.
- Women’s campaigning did not achieve mass membership on the model of political parties and the discussions were largely limited to educated white women from prosperous families.
- Reaching out to women who were poorer, less educated, or from ethnic minorities was difficult and not always recognised as being of importance.
2
Q
The 1970 Miss World Protest
A
- Some women’s liberation organisations disrupted the 1970 Miss World Contest hosted in London in November 1970 because they felt that it objectified women.
- It was a beauty competition in which all the competitors were women, and all the judges were men. It is not hard to see why there was opposition from feminists to the contest.
- The host, Bob Hope, was heckled and protestors threw stink and smoke bombs onto the stage during a live broadcast.
- The numbers involved were small and the public and press were not supportive of the protest.
3
Q
The Spare Rib (1971)
A
- Feminism, however, was split between different ideologies.
- Some women decided the way forward was through education and communication.
- They set up magazines that would be an alternative to ‘consumer women’s magazines’ with their continual emphasis on beauty, fashion, appearance, cooking, knitting and shopping.
- An example of this was the famous feminist magazine, The Spare Rib, established in 1971
4
Q
Different Feminist Groups
A
- Radical feminists, who were also sometimes separatists, believed that women were oppressed by the patriarchal society and campaigned particularly on issues such as reproductive rights.
- Socialist Feminists identified a clear class dimension to women’s equality and campaigned on issues that would enable women to achieve financial independence.
5
Q
Reproductive Rights (1971)
A
- Progress was made in advancing reproductive rights.
- Although the birth control bill had been available in the 1960s its use became much more widespread once it became available through the NHS in 1971.
6
Q
The Equal Pay Act (1970)
A
- In 1970, women earned little over half of what men did.
- The Labour Party and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had both spoken in favour of equality of treatment and opportunity for women workers.
- But women’s economic position did start to improve during the 1970s.
- The 1968 Dagenham strike, by women sewing machinists at the Ford car factory in Dagenham, was about equal pay grading for different (but in the strikers’ view, comparable) work.
- The strike was successful and led to discussion that brought about the passing of new legislation, notably the 1970 Equal Pay Act.
- The Equal Pay Act which had been passed in 1970 came into force in 1975.
- Women’s liberation movements continued to organise demonstrations in both London and Liverpool in March 1971 demanding equal pay for women and free 24-hour nurseries.
- From 1971 women were able to take out a mortgage without a male guarantor.
- The Employment Protection Act (1975) introduced paid maternity leave and outlawed dismissal on the ground of pregnancy.
7
Q
The Social Security Pensions Act (1975)
A
- In the same year Barbara Castle steered through reforms to the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme with the Social Security Pensions Act; this became more generous to women whose contributions had been limited by caring responsibilities.
8
Q
The Sex Discrimination Act (1975)
A
- The Sex Discrimination Act was passed in 1975.
- It was passed to end sex discrimination against men or women based on their gender or marital status. It also aimed to ensure equality of opportunity in the field of employment and education and to outlaw harassment.
9
Q
Equal Opportunities Commission (1975)
A
- The Sex Discrimination Act set up the Equalities Opportunities Commission.
- This was set up to oversee both the Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Pays Act.
- It could bring court proceedings against any party it judged to be not compliant with these Acts.
- However, the Equal Opportunities Commission only launched nine investigations in eight years between 1976 and 1983 and only 10% of sex discrimination claims in the workplace were successful as it was so difficult to prove.
10
Q
The Domestic Violence Act (1976)
A
- Attempts were also made to tackle violence against women.
- The first rape crisis centre opened in London in 1976 and the Domestic Violence Act (1976) made
it possible for women to take out court orders restraining violent partners.
11
Q
The Yorkshire Ripper (1975 - 1980)
A
- Peter William Sutcliffe was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an
allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. - The search for Sutcliffe was one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in British history,
and West Yorkshire Police was criticised for its failure to catch him despite having interviewed
him nine times during its five-year investigation. - On 22nd May 1981, he was found guilty of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven
others between 1975 and 1980. - ‘Reclaim the Night’ marches were held in cities across Britain, from 1977, in response to the
murders of the Yorkshire Ripper.
12
Q
The TUC’s Equality for Women within Trade Union’s Charter (1979)
A
- Trade Unions still tended to be dominated by men and suspicions remained that women in the
workplace would supress wages for men. - It was not until 1979 that the TUC published a charter, Equality for Women within Trade Unions.
- Furthermore, the Equal Pay Act did not solve all the concerns that women were not treated
equally; employers could get around it by making the tasks slightly different and therefore not
comparable. - Nevertheless, women’s wages did go up from 59% of men’s wages in 1970 to 70% by 1977.
13
Q
Women and Politics
A
- Although women had been voting in general elections since 1918, they continued to be
underrepresented in parliament. - In 1970, women made up 4% of the House of Commons; by 1979 this had shrunk to 3% of MPs.
- Although from 1975, Margaret Thatcher, became the first female leader of the Conservative Party
and would become the first female Prime Minister in 1979.
14
Q
Britain’s 1970s Race Relations
A
- Throughout the 1970s immigration continued to be a source of concern.
- There remained a steady flow of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh) and events abroad often caused sudden influxes.
15
Q
The 1971 Immigration Act
A
- In 1971 the Conservative government passed the 1971 Immigration Act which restricted the right
of people from the New Commonwealth from coming to Britain. - They would need to have a guaranteed job and have at least one grandparent born in Britain.
- Critics accused the Conservative government of appealing to ‘Powelism’.
16
Q
The Ugandan Asians
A
- In the early 1970s, the dictator of the African country of Uganda, Idi Amin, persecuted and then
expelled the Ugandan Asians. - Many of those affected had British passports, having moved from India to Uganda when India was
still a British colony. - These were made exceptions from the 1971 Immigration Act and Heath established a
resettlement board; 28,000 Ugandan Asians arrived in Britain. - Similarly, there was also a sudden rush from Bangladesh after its war of independence and
breakaway from Pakistan in 1974.
17
Q
Ethnic Minority Political Representation
A
- By 1974 over 1 million New Commonwealth immigrants had come to Britain: 325,000 from the
West Indies, 435,000 from India and Pakistan and 150,000 from Africa. - These immigrants tended to settle in the same areas where there were already established
cultural and familial networks. - However, despite this their political representation in these areas remained limited during the
1970s. - In 1974, for example, in the London Borough council elections only 10 non-white councillors were
elected; by 1978 this had gone up to 35, but this did not reflect the size of the London immigrant
population.
18
Q
The 1976 Race Relations Act
A
- Despite strict immigration rules, race relations during the 1970s continued to be an issue.
- In 1976 the Labour government passed another Race Relations Act to try and tackle discrimination
based on race. - It established the Commission for Racial Equality which had the power to initiate investigations
and to compel witnesses to appear in front of it.
19
Q
The Rise of the National Front
A
- The National Front was a racist Neo-Nazi political movement founded in 1967 by John Tyndall to
oppose non-white immigration. - The National Front became active in the parts of London where immigrants had settled, such as
Brick Lane and Southall. - Although it never won any elections, its popularity grew in the 1970s and it had up to 20,000
active members by 1976. - In February 1974 it put up 90 candidates in the general election and by 1977 it was being described
as Britain’s fourth largest political party. - One strategy of the National Front was to hold marches and demonstrations in areas where there
were high levels of immigrants living. - These were considered provocative and were often marked by violence.
- The Trades Council of East London gave details of over 100 incidents including 2 murders between
January 1976 and August 1978 and assaults on, and robberies of, Asians and Afro-Caribbeans rose
by a third. - The pressure group, the Anti-Nazi League, was set up in 1977, in part to combat this.
20
Q
Skinheads
A
- Some skinheads were attracted by the National Fronts Ideas.
- Skinheads had developed from Mod youth culture at the end of the 1960s.
- Although many were not political, some were becoming increasingly linked to the National Front
and football hooliganism by the late 1970s. - They were often behind violent attacks on people from other minority ethnic backgrounds, in
what was sometimes called by them as ‘Paki-Bashing
21
Q
Rock Against Racism (1976)
A
- Other young people, however, fought against racist attitudes.
- Rock Against Racism started in 1976 as a reaction to comments made by rock guitarist Eric Clapton
in support of Enoch Powell. - A huge demonstration and concert held in Trafalgar Square in April 1978 attracted 100,000
people. - The concert was headlined by The Clash who drew on Reggae and Ska influences as well as punk
rock. - Reggae and Ska were styles of popular music originating in Jamaica and brought to Britain by the
Afro-Caribbean immigrant community, which was characterised by a strong offbeat.
22
Q
1970s Policing & Ethnic Minorities
A
- There was also distrust of the police’s treatment of ethnic minorities.
- In 1976 there were only 70 police officers with a black or ethnic minority background out of the
London Metropolitan Police force of 22,000. - Young black men often felt that the police were harassing them unnecessarily.
- Tensions were often apparent at events like the Notting Hill Carnival.
- In 1976 this hostility erupted into a riot where over 300 people were injured and following this
there were calls to ban the event. - Suspicions regarding police attitudes were highlighted by events such as the death of Blair Peach
in 1979. - Blair Peach was a teacher and an Anti-Nazi league supporter who was killed at an anti-racism
demonstration, which was blocked by police; it was alleged that he was struck on the head by a
police truncheon. - The Metropolitan Police [London police] finally admitted responsibility for his death in 2010.
23
Q
Popular Culture & Racism
A
- Both progress in race relations and ongoing racism were also visible in popular culture.
- Local authorities began to follow multiculturalist policies.
- These sought to recognise and respect the different cultures of different ethnicities equally.
- Black footballers such as Justin Fashanu and John Barnes became increasingly common on the
pitch and in 1978 Viv Anderson became the first black player to be picked for the England team. - Caribbean Reggae and Ska music became increasingly popular.
- However, football terraces were also scenes of overt racism with fans making monkey noises and
throwing banana skins at back football players. - Also, Comedians still felt able to make openly racist jokes.
- In The Black and White Minstrel Show, for example, white actors would wear ‘black-face’ and this
show continued to be made until 1978. - By 1980 the Commission for Racial Equality was warning: ‘Racial Prejudice is still rife, and so is
racial discrimination, whole the response of the government has been disappointingly
inadequate’.
24
Q
Thatcher’s Conservatives & Race Relations (1975 - 1979)
A
- The growth of the National Front that seemed to indicate ongoing concerns over immigration
produced a response by the main political parties. - By the late 1970s, the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher, announced that they would
toughen immigration policy further in order to limit the number of immigrants coming into Britain. - Some people complained that Thatcher’s words were designed to appeal to racists.
- She said afterwards that she had received hundreds of letters in support and the Conservative
Party opened an 11% lead in the opinion polls following it.
25
1970s Youth
* Youth culture in the 1970s continued to cause concern for older generations.
* In many ways youth subcultures reflected the social, political and economic battles going on
elsewhere.
26
Punk Culture
* In 1975 and 1976 the Punk movement started.
* It was influenced by bands from the United States such as the New York Dolls who rejected
commercialism.
* British bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and the Buzzcocks played loud, fast guitar
music where the words were often shouted over the top of music.
* Much of the punk philosophy was nihilistic.
* It rejected the hippy culture that had gone on before and embraced a DIY attitude – being able to
play musical instruments was less important than the attitude.
* The lyrics reflected the social alienation that many young people felt.
* The image of punks was designed to be shocking. Punks wore bondage gear, safety pins, ripped
T-shirts, body piercing and had spiky hair.
* Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren opened a boutique called SEX on King’s Road in
Chelsea, London, which sold these items and was extremely influential on the punk image.
* However, as with other trends, this was for the most simply a rebellious phase.
* At punk concerts both performers and audience sat at each other and there were often violent
scuffles.
* Punk created a moral panic. The Sex Pistols, managed by Malcolm McLaren and fronted by Jonny
Rotten, swore live on TV; newspapers headlines such as ‘The Filth and Fury’ and ‘TV Fury Over
Rock Cult Filth’ followed.
* In 1977, The Sex Pistols also released a controversial single, ‘God Save the Queen’ during the
Queen’s Silver Jubilee year. The BBC refused to play it, but it reached Number Two in the music
charts.
27
Skinheads
* Skinheads had developed from Mod culture at the end of the 1960s.
* The skin heads were characterised by their shaven heads, white T-shirts, red braces, bomber
jackets and Dr Marten Boots.
* They tended to be working class and were initially influenced by Jamaican music and culture.
* Although many skinheads were apolitical [not interested in politics], by the end of the 1970s some
skinheads were becoming increasingly linked to the National Front and football Hooliganism.
28
Football Hooliganism
* Football Hooliganism was already a growing problem at the beginning of the 1970s, but it
gradually worsened over the decade.
* Organised hooligan groups were set up linked to particular football clubs, such as the Chelsea
Head-hunters.
* Scenes of violence became so common that football hooliganism became known as ‘The English
Disease’.
29
1970s Environmentalism
* Environmentalism as a political philosophy covers a multitude of topics connected by their impact
on the environment: industrial pollution, protection of wildlife, organic farming, and the dangers
from radiation and nuclear waste.
* Pictures taken of the earth from space had a big impact on people’s views of the planet as they
highlighted the earth’s fragility.
* A new word, ‘ecology’ entered the vocabulary, defining the health of the natural environment.
* It drew on several issues that had emerged in the 1960s, but by the 1970s had gained enough
potency to impact more generally on the public consciousness.
* These ideas also drew on the counterculture of the 1970s, particularly the Hippy movement, that
had rejected consumerism and commercialisation, and on emerging fears of a downside to what
had been perceived as scientific progress.
30
Increasing Environmental Awareness
* In 1962, Silent Spring, by the American biologist Rachel Carson, had an enormous international
impact.
* The book sounded the alarm about the decline of birds ands other wildlife in the farming
countryside.
* The root cause was attributed to overuse of chemical pesticides, especially DDT, and the book
also linked the use of these chemicals to cancer.
* In 1967, the wreck of a giant oil tanker, Torrey Canyon, caused a massive oil spill and polluted a
stretch of the coastline of southwest England.
* In 1968, a campaigning book, The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich, dramatized he threat to the
environment from overpopulation.
31
Environmental Pressure Groups (Friends of the Earth & Green Peace)
* The year 1970 was announced to be the year of European conservation and in the early 1970s,
disparate environmental concerns began to coalesce into organised campaigns.
* The environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth was formed in the United States in 1969
and expanded to include Britain, France and Sweden in 1971.
* The radical organisation Green Peace was founded in Vancouver, Canada, in 1971, to campaign
against whaling. Green Peace UK was formed in 1977.
32
Anti-Nuclear Power Campaigning
* Whereas the original drive behind the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) had been
protest against atomic weapons and the threat of a nuclear war during the Cold War, a new form
of anti-nuclear protest against the use of nuclear power.
* Electricity generated by nuclear power was being increasingly protested against, because of the
dangers in dealing with radioactive nuclear waste and the potential for nuclear accidents.
* Between 1957 and 1979 there had been five major incidents with nuclear power station Sellafield
which was on the Cumbrian coast.
* The partial nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island, in New York in 1979, further increased
anxieties about nuclear power stations.
33
Environmental Direct Action (Animal Liberation Front)
* Environmental direct action was an issue that split the environmental movement.
* In 1963, the Hunt Saboteurs Association was formed to carry out direct action against the cruelty
of fox hunting.
* There was outrage when it was discovered that beagles in laboratories were forced to smoke 30
cigarettes a day to study the effects of smoking.
* Animal rights protestors carried out violent attacks on pharmaceutical laboratories from 1973.
* The Animal Liberation Front, formed in 1976, adopted extreme violence: letter bombs, were sent
to politicians including Margaret Thatcher in 1984.
34
Public Environmental Awareness
* Alongside environmental pressure groups, there was a general increase in interest in the natural
environment and the need for conservation.
* Television programmes, many made at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, did a lot to raise
awareness.
* In 1979, David Attenborough’s Life On Earth series used new techniques of colour photography
and gained massive television audiences worldwide.
* In the same year, the British thinker James Lovelock gained many adherents for his Gaia Theory,
about the interconnectedness of all ecological issues.
* Environmentalism concerns were also reflected in popular culture.
* The book Watership Down, about a group of rabbits forced to move by a road development, was
published in 1972 and became a bestseller.
* A BBC situation comedy, The Good Life, which began airing in 1975, depicted a couple trying to be
self-sufficient in a suburban house.
35
The Green Party
* Terry Goldsmith published A Blueprint for Survival in 1972 which advocated a return to self
sufficiency and a deindustrialised society.
* This formed the political; platform of The People’s Party which was set up in 1973.
* The People’s Party put up 5 candidates in February 1974, including Terry Goldsmith.
* It changed its name to the Ecological Party in 1975 and put up 53 candidates in the 1979 General
Election.
* By the end of the 1970s, environmentalism had carved a permanent place on the political scene.
In 1985 the Ecological Party would change its name to the Green Party.
