How far did British society change, 1939 - 1975?

1. The presence of foreign troops
   1. American

      Anotações:

      • - easy going and not class conscious - better paid - popular with girls - mixed well with british society - tensions from cultural differences - many were african americans who had come from segregated communities the british treated them very well in comparison          -> first experience of being treated normally by white people
   2. Allied soldiers

      Anotações:

      • - commonwealth soldiers fought with the Allies in the war (Australians, canadians, NZs, Indians) - 40,000 marriages between canadians and british women - after the war 120,000 poles settled in britain      -> poland was invaded in 1939 and then occupied by the USSR and many decided to stay in britain rather than live in a communist state
   3. PoWs

      Anotações:

      • - half a million PoWs were generally treated well and worked in agriculture - 25,000 german prisoners decided to make a new home in britain even thought they had fought against them
2. Womens experience of war work

   Anotações:

   • 1941 - all women aged 20+ had to register for war work... most were sent to work in industry or the auxiliary armed forces
   • 1945 - 80% of married women and 90% of single women were working in industry or the forces
   • 1943 - over 433,000 women worked in the armed forces
   • trade unions accepted female workers much more readily than they had done in ww1
   • millions of women still had to juggle working in factories and looking after their families  - flexible working arrangements and nurseries were introduced to help women 
   1. Attitudes towards women workers during and after the war
      1. During

         Anotações:

         • - much of the work available during the war stopped in 1945 - many tasks were simplified since some men believed that women could only do simple work - although they worked in the armed forces, it was mostly supportive rather than front lines
      2. After

         Anotações:

         • - young married women stopped working to have children     -> encouraged by the media and certain sections of society  - in 1945, there was a sudden increase in the number of marriages
         • - older women managed to continue working to help british industry recover from the war
         • - 1947, 18% of married women had paid jobs compared to 10% in 1939
3. Young people's experience
   1. Evacuation

      Anotações:

      • - 1940 = luftwaffe launched the Blitz on London and a second wave of evacuation began
      • - half of all children in cities were moved to rural communities
      • - many children were separated from their families for up to six years - many were treated well but some were treated badly
      • - they were not used to rural life and often found themselves in much wealthier households than their own
      • - meeting evacuees was the first time middle-class families had the opportunity to experience what life was like fro the working class
      • - 50% of children from urban areas were never evacuated at all and many children were brought back home because they were homesick  - they were killed or injured alongside alongside their parents in air raids
   2. School

      Anotações:

      • - many schools in towns were closed - shortage of teachers since many served in the armed forces - poor children who were not evacuated therefore had little education       -> some areas this led to petty crime and vandalism  - children evacuated in the countryside only went to school part-time for half a day
   3. Health

      Anotações:

      • - rationing reduced the quantity of food eaten, but it provided a balanced diet for children - evacuees tended to have a better diet  - children suffered emotionally during ww2        -> families were often split because of war service and thousands lost fathers, mothers and other family members from air raids or combat duties         -> evacuees lived away from their parents

1. The Beveridge Report
   1. Five giant evils
      1. Want (poverty)
         1. Family allowance act

            Anotações:

            • 1945 - an allowance of 5 shillings per week per child in any family  - people now have money to be able to keep their children healthy
         2. National Insurance act

            Anotações:

            • 1946 - benefits for any worker who was unemployed, injured or sick - if someone isn't able to make money, they will not die.  - 'universality' = everyone eligible and everyone has to contribute 
      2. Disease
         1. National Health Service Act

            Anotações:

            • 1946 but implemented in july 1948 - free health care - everyone is now able to be treated and disease spreads slower
      3. Ignorance (poor education)
         1. Children act

            Anotações:

            • 1948 - services put in place to protect children 
         2. Education act

            Anotações:

            • 1944 - secondary education compulsory until the age of 15 years and provided meals, milk and medical services at every school. - 11+ exam
      4. Squalor (bad housing)
         1. Town and Country Planning act and New towns act

            Anotações:

            • 1947 - clearance of slums and bomb-damaged hosuing  - relocation of many of the poorest in Britain's cities to new town - 200,000 new homes a year
         2. Housing Act

            Anotações:

            • - 1949 - massive programme of building new housing to the latest specification
      5. Idleness (unemployment)
         1. National Insurance Act

            Anotações:

            • - 1946 - benefits for any worker that was unemployed, injured or sick - eases the pressure on the unemplyed
         2. Housing act

            Anotações:

            • - 1949 - massive programme of building new housing to the latest specifications - increasing demand for labourers
2. The National Health Service

   Anotações:

   • -1948 - labour health minister had to overcome a lot of opposition in order to create the NHS mostly from the conservative opposition and the doctors' representatives from the British Medical Association (BMA)
   1. impact on people's lives

      Anotações:

      • - British public welcomed free medical care and demand exceeded all expectations
      • - between 1948 and 73, the number of doctors doubled
      • - high quality maternal care became available to women for the first time
      • - provided other healthcare professionals such as midwives and health visitors
      • - medical inspections carried out by school nurses improved children's health
      • - free child vaccinations - reduced the death from common diseases
      1. over next 30 years...

         Anotações:

         • - infant mortality fell from 60,000 deaths of children under five in 1945 ---> 20,000 deaths by 1975 - between 1870 and 1910, the average life expectancy of women was 45. by 1970, it had risen to 76

1. Case studies
   1. Immigration from the Caribbean

      Anotações:

      • - In 1954, 24,000 WIs arrived in Britain  - By 1960 , there were 125,000 immigrants from the Caribbean in Britain
      • -SS Empire Windrush, in 1948.  - carried about 500 West Indians, mainly Jamaicans -  paid £28 for the one way trip.  -Their arrival caused quite a stir, especially in the areas where they settled, partly due to their ‘exotic’ accents and music,  - mainly due to the colour of their skin.  -The Windrush generation faced a good deal of racial prejudice. 
      1. Push

         Anotações:

         • - Unemployment in Jamaica and other islands was a major problem  - Hurricanes devastated Jamaica in 1944 ans 1951 - Tourism wasn't a major industry then and most earned their living from fishing and growing food
         • - Long history of West Indian immigration to the USA, but in 1952 this was cut back
      2. Pull

         Anotações:

         • - 10,000 WI troops served successfully in the BAF during ww2 and stayed in Britain to work
         • - 1949 British Nationality act came into force giving all citizens of the former empire unrestricted access to Britain
         • - success of other immigrants  - workers earned significatly more than those who stayed in WI islands
         • - looking for an adventure
         • - british culture and history was appealing - education system was widely respected -WIs were impressed with the British empire and success of British industry and commerce
   2. Asian Immigration from East Africa
      1. Push

         Anotações:

         • - In 1960s, lots of Kenyan Asians immigrants felt persecuted by laws - about 20,000 of them came to britain
         • - In Uganda in 1972 President Idi Amin simply expelled 50,000 asians, most of whom came to britain
   3. Immigration from India and Pakistan
      1. Push

         Anotações:

         • - Eurasians = educated, middle-class professionals who had intermarried during the British rule in India
         • - Unrest and violence between groups after Indian independence in 1947 
         • - many came from poor rural communities
      2. Pull

         Anotações:

         • - Many Sikhs from the Punjab region had served in The BA in India -employment opportunities appealed to them 
         • - economic reasons 
         • - new immigrants worked in the metal, food and clothing industries, mainly located in the MIdlands and north of england
2. Experienced of immigrants in Britian
   1. Housing

      Anotações:

      • - immigrants were required to live in Britain for five years before they could apply fro council housing - banks and building societies often refused to give immigrants loans or mortgages - some boarding houses displayed notices saying 'no blacks' - had to find whatever accommodation they could and many were exploited by many landlords - Peter Rachman = high rents for poor accomodation
   2. Work

      Anotações:

      • - work trade unions claimed that immigrants were taking British jobs. In the west midlands in 1955, transport workers even went on strike complaining about the increasing number of immigrant workers - they found it hard to get promoted and most worked in low paid jobs
   3. Daily Life

      Anotações:

      • - immigrants found a 'colour bar' in place at pubs and bars who refused to serve them - in the 1959 general election some right-wing politicians began a campaign to 'keep britain white'
   4. Violence

      Anotações:

      • - In the St Ann’s area of Nottingham in August 1958 a crowd of up to 1000 black and white youths fought each other, resulting in a number of stabbings;
      • - A few days later, in Notting Hill (West London) gangs of 300-400 white men armed with chains, iron bars, knives and petrol bombs attacked local black people and their homes. - These Notting Hill Race Riots 1958 were sparked by a Teddy Boy attack on a white woman who had a black partner - The riots lasted two weeks. 140 were arrested, but there were complaints that the police had been too slow to react to black appeals for help, and that the police had been too eager to say that racism hadn’t caused the riots.
      • -The Notting Hill riots were a turning point.  -Afterwards, 3% of the total immigrant population returned to the Caribbean.  -Caribbean governments made official complaints to the British government about poor housing and prejudiced policing.  - The Notting Hill Carnival was also founded in 1959 to promote racial harmony. It still takes place annually. 
      • - 1959 = six teddy boys murdered Kelso Cochrane, a carpenter from Antigua - the police never arrested the killers
3. Political Response
   1. 1962

      Anotações:

      • Conservative government passed the ' Commonwealth Immigration act'  - only skilled workers in shortage areas were allowed into Britian
   2. 1964

      Anotações:

      • - New labour government criticised the Commonwealth Immigration act - immigration had become such a sensitive issue with voters that Labour restricted immigration to 8,500 per year
   3. 1965-66

      Anotações:

      • - Race relations act - illeal to discriminate on the grounds of race or colour - The race relations board was also set up in 1966 to handle complaints about discrimination - it had few powers and was limited in its impact
   4. 1967

      Anotações:

      • National Front Party was formed - called for an end to immigration and for immigrants to be deported to their home countries  - separation of white and immigrant communities
   5. 1968

      Anotações:

      • - Commonwealth immigration act - limited immigration vouchers to 1,500 per year  - introduction of the 'close connection' clause that restricted access to those who were born in Britain or whose parents/grandparents were - effect was to restrict immigration from the new commonwealth countries whilst allowing entry to those from former white commonwealth nations (canada/nz)
      1. Enoch Powell

         Anotações:

         • - April 1968 = 'rivers of blood speech' - speech warning that britain felt overwhelmed by the numbers of immigrants  - very controversial - demonstrations in support of him in London and other areas  - heavily criticised because it encouraged racial tension  - Powell was fired by conservative leader - edward heath - Labour government passed a new Race relations act which made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race or colour in employment and housing
   6. 1976

      Anotações:

      • - Race equality act  - illegal to make racially offensive comments or publish racially offensive material - Commission for Racial Equality to investigate claims of racism  - the need for this shows that earlier measures had not successfully dealt with racism
4. Contribution of Immigrants to British society
   1. Individuals

      Anotações:

      • - Sybil Phoenix = arrived from the caribbean in 1956. - she lived in desperate poverty but later years set up a youth group called Moonshot in Lewisham, London - She was awarded an MBE for her community work  - became mayor of lewisham
   2. Public services

      Anotações:

      • - would not have developed without the contribution of immigrant workers  - NHS = one-third of all doctors in the 1970s were born oversees
   3. Economy

      Anotações:

      • - immigrants came to work and make a better life for themselves - paying taxes - specialised in particular businesses such as retail, food and textiles - Many have become successful business people even billionaires
   4. Culture

      Anotações:

      • - enriched british culture - Greek, Indian and Chinese food have become firm british favourites - by 1975, there were thousands of ethnic restaurants and takeaways across the country 
   5. Music, dance and cinema

      Anotações:

      • - heavily influenced by immigrant culture - Raggae, soul, Motown, steel bands, and bollywood are well-established feature of British life - Notting Hill carnival in london, started 1958
   6. Religion

      Anotações:

      • - multi-cultural society in britain - By mid-1970s, the Hindus, Muslim, and Sikh faiths were well-established in many parts of britain

1. Early 50s
   1. Work

      Anotações:

      • - ww2 removed the taboo on women doing a paid job outside the home but in 1951: - only 36% of women had paid jobs and only 26% of married women  - there was still assumption that if a woman got married she would leave her job; almost certainly if she had a baby - some jobs were almost entirely done by men. a woman would not even think of trying to get  such a job - they were mostly typists, secretaries or cleaners - women found it hard to get promoted to top jobs and many did not want top jobs  - women got paid less than men even if they did they same job
   2. Personal life

      Anotações:

      • - 8 hours a day on housework - very little leisure time - normally spent in the cinema - contraception was unreliable so unplanned pregnancies were common and abortion was illegal - unmarried women were not expected to have sex and there was a deep taboo against unmarried mothers - divorce law was biased towards men so women found it difficult to get out of failed or violent marriages
   3. But...

      Anotações:

      • - many women would say they were happy with their working life, their social life and their family life - through a traumatic period of depression then war and many people were just very glad to be trying to get back to normal
2. Changes in the 1950s and 60s
   1. The welfare state

      Anotações:

      • - mothers had always born the anxiety and responsibility for family healthcare, now ill-health was no longer such a fear bc of the NHS
      • - unemployment was less feared because of National Insurance
      • - new houses were being built to replace those damaged by war-time bombing  - the education act had improved schools for all children 
   2. Prosperity

      Anotações:

      • - britain's economy grew after the war and many families had more money
   3. Technology

      Anotações:

      • mechanisation was affecting every aspect of life and affordable washing machines, vacuum cleaners and electrical fires etc all lightened the load of housework
   4. Work

      Anotações:

      • women could easily find work if they wanted to  it tended to be low-paid and low-skilled but the jobs were there, they gave women more money of their own to spend
   5. Choice

      Anotações:

      • all these changes gave women the opportunity to choose how t0 spend their time
   6. Media

      Anotações:

      • women's magazines boomed in the 1950s then in the 1960s television took over - magazine and TVs provided women with honest and practical advice on almost all aspects of life and also supplied different role-models to aspire to
   7. Family planning

      Anotações:

      • - 1960s= the first oral contraceptive pill gave women reliable control over how many children to have and when to have them 
   8. Expectaions

      Anotações:

      • - many women found that these changes increased their expectations of what they could achieve
3. The women's movement

   Anotações:

   • - The Fawcett Society and The Six Point Group were still active after ww2 campigning for equal pay and treatment under the law  - changes in the USA were affecting the women of britain - feminists specialised in consciousness-raising - making women more aware of discrimination affected them personally and helping them seize opportunities to change their own lives or campaign for change for other women - 1960s = women's groups active in the CND
   • - encouraged by feminists writers like Germaine Greer, who in 1969 published the influential book 'The Female eunuch', the women's movement gathered momentum - 1970 = The Women's Liberation movement was launched at a national conference and made four demands         - equal pay         - equal education and opportunities         - 24 hour nurseries         - free contraception and abortion on demand
4. Main campaigns
   1. Equal pay

      Anotações:

      • - 1955 = conservative government had agreed to give equal pay to men and women doing jobs in the public sector such as teachers or civil servants - political campaigns by the women's movement that finally achieved an EQUAL PAY ACT IN 1970  - this extended 'equal pay for equal work' throughout the private sector although the act was not enforced until 1975 with the SEX DISCRIMINATION ACT - women continued to earn less than men because they were doing different jobs - did little to help them gain promotion
      • - 1968 women went on strike for equal pay at the ford factory in Dagenham  - they eventually settled for 92%
   2. Contraception

      Anotações:

      • - family planning had been available since the 1920s, but in reality women had very little control over the number of children they had  - family planning was very much a taboo subject 
      • - 1957 = medical researchers produced the first oral contraceptive pill and this transformed the lives of women because they could control how many children they had - firstly only available to married women  - after 1965, the birth rate fell dramatically - the average number of children per family fell to two or three for the six, eight or ten of previous generations 
   3. Abortion

      Anotações:

      • - the the early 60s there were bout 200,000 illegal abortions per year in Britain - many of these took place in unhygienic and unregistered premises, but many women were prepared to take the risk rather than bear the social stigma of being an unmarried mother - in 1967, the labour government passed the ABORTION ACT  - abortion was now legal if a woman gained the agreement of 2 doctors
   4. Divorce

      Anotações:

      • -1969 parliament passed the DIVORCE ACT, which allowed a divorce on the grounds that a relationship had broken down
      • - the MATRIMONIAL PROPERTY ACT 1970 was passed giving women a share of the aspects built up during the marriage  - before this woman were left in poverty after a divorce
5. Source evaluation - women's attitudes

   Anotações:

   • - 1950s and 60s historians examining changing attitudes found that women wanted to 'say the right thing' rather than being honest -  there was a taboo against speaking out
   • - sociologist such as Hannah green and Nancy Sears carefully interviewed women in confidence, alone, away from the pressures of home and family and believe they came up more honest with their feelings

Anotações:

• young people in 45-55: - often dressed in a similar way to their parents - mostly had the same set of pre-war values as their parents and grandparents  - only had access to one TV channel if their family had a tv - listened to the same type of music as their parents

1. Changes in the 1950s

   Anotações:

   • Increasing prosperity meant that many young people had more money and more leisure time, they were able to but fashionable goods and a new teenage culture began to develop
   • teenagers began to: - wear different clothes to their parents - spend more time with their friends, meeting in coffee bars and listening to music - go to the cinema to watch new hollywood films - as a result, record sales and cinema attendance boomed
   • teddy boys - distinctive way of dressing - joined gangs  - gained a reputation for trouble and violence - they did not represent the majority of Britain
2. Changes in the 1960s
   1. Teenage consumers

      Anotações:

      • - teenagers had more money and were able to spend more - became consumers  - record labels, fashion houses and technology companies responded to the new teenage market with new products and advertsing
   2. TeenageProducts

      Anotações:

      • - radios became portable because of developments such as the transistor and better, more lightweight batteries. - this meant that teenagers could listen to their music with their friends rather than their family - record players became much cheaper in the 1960s meaning many teenagers could have one of their own. Consequently, the number of 'singles' sold by record companies jumped from 5 million in 1955 to 50 million in 1960
   3. TV and RAdio programmes

      Anotações:

      • -TV and radio producers began to produce programmes specifically for teenagers - 'ready, steady, go!' in many ways it summed up the new 'swinging sixties' - The audience was made up of fashionable , good looking teenagers - the main presenter, cathy McGowan, was an attractive teenager - popular bands played on the show including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones - the studio sets were changed each week and the cameras were placed at unusual angles, unlike traditional programmes
   4. Transport

      Anotações:

      • - IN 1960s , teenagers were able to take advantage of improvements in public transport particularly in cities - scooters and bikes became much more affordable  - many teenagers were able to travel more freely to meet up with their friends at fashionable places
   5. Music

      Anotações:

      • - small bands of young men wrote songs for people their own age - groups such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones became instant superstars with millions of fans worldwide - The lyrics and music were often rebellious and challenged traditional values        -> The Rolling Stones sang about sex and drugs - Huge concerts became fashionable and millions of teenagers watched their favourite groups on shows such as ' top of the pops' - Pirate radio stations began to play popular music in contrast to the traditional music still played on the BBC - The hugely popular Radio Caroline broadcast the latest records from a ship in the north sea - When it was eventually closed down, the BBC revised their entire radio programming and in 1967, launched Radio 1 to appeal to teenagers
   6. Fashion

      Anotações:

      • - new young designers, such as MAry Quant, made informal, stylish and lightweight clothes for young people  - Quant used models such as Twiggy to show off her designs, and most notably introduced the Mini Skirt - The Kings Road and Carnaby street became the capital of youth fashion fro London and the rest of the world - Photographs such as David Bailey, and hairdressers such as Vidal Sassoon became celebrities who appealed to 1960s youth culture 
3. The teenage rebel

   Anotações:

   • - TV shows such as 'That was the week that was' challenged traditional institutions, such as government and church, with satirical comedy in a way that was never seen before - New publications such as Private Eye which was launched in 1962 poked fun at authority figures - 1961 stage production of West side story seemed to challenge views about what was good behaviour, despite the fact that it was based on Romeo and Juliet - Pop stars were regularly criticised for challenging traditional values. In 1966, John Lennon unintentionally upset many people in the USA when he was quoted in an interview as saying that The Beatles were now 'more popular than jesus'. However, upsetting some, his point was that 1960s popular music was more influential that a declining church - 1960s is widely seen as a period of sexual revolution. However evidence from the time suggests that teenagers were not sexually active as suggested - Rebellion for most teenagers in the 1960s was little more than staying out a little longer than they should or listening to music their parents didn't like - Occasionally rebellion turned into violence, as in 1964 when teenage groups of Mod and Rockers clashed in some seaside resorts. The press then printed hysterical headlines at the time, but recent changes suggests that there was very little violence 
   1. Mods and Rockers
4. Changes in eduaction
   1. Comprehensive schools

      Anotações:

      • - 1960 = either grammar or secondary modern schools - to get a place in a grammar school, children had to pass the 11+ test - Grammar = university and well-paid jobs - secondary modern = leave school at 15 and lower paid job
      • Supporters - grammar school helped open up opportunities for the brighter children whatever their social background - Critics - virtually all children at grammar schools were from middle class families since their parents could afford coaching to help their children with the 11+ test. they say that the system increased the class divide 
      • 1965 = 10/65 that forced local authorities to produce plans to abolish grammar and secondary modern schools and replace them with comprehensive schools that would admit all children from the local area, whatever their ability background - resistance from Conservative controlled local authorities  - 1,145 comprehensive schools had been opened by 1970 - by the end of 1960s children were staying in school much longer
   2. Universities and Polytechnics

      Anotações:

      • 1939 = 50,000 young people studied beyond school  1970 = 400,000 young people in higher education Both Labour and conservative governments saw the need to create a better educated workforce therefore created new universities and colleges 
      • - Thirteen new unis were built during the 1950s and 60s - 32 new polytechnics were opened fro students wishing to study more vocational courses in science and technology - Art colleges were established to attract students from poorer middle-class and working-class backgrounds - grants were introduced to pay living expenses fro students from poorer backgrounds.  - the government also payed tuition fees
5. Teenage and student protest

   Anotações:

   • - 1960s = wave of protests fuelled by the civil rights and anti-war movements  - young people challenged traditional values and in different ways - 
   • - some opted out of society and became 'hippies'  - culture created on peace, love, communed and usually drugs 
   • - others joined political campaigns, protest, marches, or took direct action - some began to demonstrate against their own university - 1967, students at LSE demonstrated about the appointment of the new director because he had worked in Zimbabwe and therefore judged to be a supporter of white-only rule there - 
   • - sit ins at Leicester and Essex unis and students at Hull occupied the uni administrative centre in protest of 'the crude qualification that led to money and materialism and poverty'
   • - anti-Vietnam war demonstrations outside the American Embassy in London in 1968 - 
   • - the majority of british students were not revolutionaries  - 86% of students found student politics boring  - a nation wide poll found that 80% of students were happy with their conditions and treatment