Why did a More 'Liberal Society' Develop Between 1951-1979? Flashcards
Popular Culture: Satire and ‘New Wave’
Who did it Target?
Elite - The army, the government, and the upper classes
Helped to fuel criticism of the establishment and break down ridid class boundaries
Popular Culture: Satire and ‘New Wave’
Examples
Beyond the Fringe
That Was the Week That Was
Popular Culture: Satire and ‘New Wave’
New Wave
Writers and journalists wrote about w/c
Saturday Night Sunday Morning (1958) by Alan Sillitoe
Popular Culture: Satire and ‘New Wave’
Analysis
Cultural shift, declining deference, working class empowerment
Media accelerated change
Sex Scandals and the Decline of Deference
Pre-Second World War
The press didn’t report on private lives of the establishment
Sex Scandals and the Decline of Deference
Clivedon
1963, Private Eye magazine reported on sex parties
Sex Scandals and the Decline of Deference
Profumo Affair
Minister of War, John Profumo, alleged to have shared sexual partner, Christine Keeler, with member of Soviet embassy, Yevgeny Ivanov
Sex Scandals and the Decline of Deference
Aftermath of Profumo Affair
Front pages of Mirror, News of the World, Daily Express, and the Daily Mail
Profumo first denied, then admitted to it
March 1963 he resigned
Sex Scandals and the Decline of Deference
Long Term Impact
Shock over involvement of member of the establishment, and lying about it
Watershed moment - press hunting scandals
Political leaders no longer paragons of virtue
Sex Scandals and the Decline of Deference
Analysis
Lack of respect for politicians - declining deference
Press reporting on private lives normalised - expectation of transparency as accountability
Changing Attitudes Towards Sex and Sexuality
Arthur Marwick
Argued the 1960s marked the end of Victorianism
Changing Attitudes Towards Sex and Sexuality
WW2
Undermined traditional values - spouses separated, women widowed, rising sex outside marriage
Surge of divorces in 1947
Changing Attitudes Towards Sex and Sexuality
Literature
‘Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female’ by Alfred Kinsley
Interviews with over 6,000 women, exploring experience of sex
Changing Attitudes Towards Sex and Sexuality
Legislation
Obscene Publications Act (1959) - relaxed usage of ‘obscene’ words and content in art
Theatres Act (1968) - relaxed censorship in theatres/films
Changing Attitudes Towards Sex and Sexuality
Swinging Sixties
Exaggeration, generational gap
Mainly experienced by young, affluent, urban people
