British Society 1951-2007

Post war consensus 1951-64 * The growth of the economy and rising living standards * Social tension: 1950s unrest; race riots, violence, criminality (Kray twins) and hooliganism (mods and rockers); selection and the diverse nature of secondary education (11+); changes in attitudes to class (into 60s) * Class system is well cut

End of consensus 1964-75 * The impact on the economy of government interventions, 1964-1973 * The oil-price crisis of 1973 and the end of the ‘long post-war boom’ * The impact on communities of industrial disputes; the significance of the Miners’ strike 1973; the impact of the 3 day week, 1974; and the birth of environmentalism (cars, industrialisation, nuclear disarmament)

Thatcher 1975-90 * The social impact of Thatcherism, including privatisations and the sale of council houses (makes a larger divide between the poor and working class) * The significance of the Miners’ strike 1984-85, on industrial relations; the emergence of extra-parliamentary opposition (change in society’s attitudes)

Rise of New Labour 1990-2007 * Social issues and population change; the extent to which Britain had become an integrated and multicultural society by 2007 – yet still division within the community, still today but has changed * Understanding the meaning of: * Assimilation * Accommodation * Integration * Multi-ethnic * Multi-cultural * Multi-racial

Analyse the ways in which British society remained the same or changed in the years 1951 to 2007 and should be able to offer a judgement on the extent of that change.

Firstly: define ‘society’ then set out how you will be analysing change and continuity.

Continuity and change: * Class: the growth of the middle class/demise of aristocracy and re-evaluation of working class affiliation * Ethnic diversity: the impact of immigration and multiculturalism * Education: the growth of and change in education and the emergence of youth culture(s) – wasn’t in the 50s * Women: the rise of feminism – changes throughout the 50s, especially the 60s * Values: perhaps with reference to consumerism (start buying things with credit)/religion/attitudes to the environment * Culture: cultural change and the media

Other factors: * The pace of change – e.g. periods of ‘accelerated change’ in the 1960s and in the Thatcher years * Legislation affecting society and whether it had any appreciable affect on society. Did it lead or follow social change? * Health, housing and the workings of the welfare state * The use of leisure time * Demographic change * Social mobility * The impact of technology