theme 3 society in transition - 3A class and social values

Decline in deference

• high death toll (705k) shook the confidence the WC had in UC generals

• WC and Mc men interacting on an even basis in trenches

Decline in the upper classes:

• disproportionately high death toll in WW1

• Many aristocrats couldn’t afford their grand homes

• Some sold to the national trust or schools or hotels — some fell into disrepair

• HOWEVER the Duke of Portland owned 8 grand homes in 1914 and still maintained 4 in 1939

Greater equality

• 1918 RTPA

• People improved loving standards in interwar years - prices fell faster than wages in depression years

• Surplus income and could aspire to more affluent lifestyles

Housing

• owner occupiers rose from 750k in 1920’s to 3,250,000 in 1938

• Growing suburbs, car ownership, railway network

Metroland

Area of north London serviced by metropolitan railway and developed with houses built speculatively by builders who anticipated a ready market

Class and social values 1918-1939

• some had feared open class revolt - did not lead to social barriers or conventions significantly breaking down

• 1919 Govt feared revolt (Clydeside)

• 1926 (Gen Strike) The Times Newspaper tended to represent MC and called strikes unpatriotic class warriors

• ‘Class conflict’ was rare - late 1920’s strikes were in decline - Conservatives had MC and WC support

• The Great Depression undermined EC solidarity - Union membership declined - new jobs in the southeast and midlands - affluent and unlikely to strike

Mass Observation - impact of WW2

Reported frequently that WC wanted a more equal Britain post war

Some wanted a classless society

Evacuation, bombing and rationing caused class cooperation and interaction

ACTUALLY little social change - WC inner-city children evacuated to more affluent rural homes reinforced class prejudice

Post war attitudes

• 1945 Gen Elect - both parties campaigned on greater state intervention

• Labour govt nationalisation and welfare state

• Ideas of social class hadn’t shifted dramatically

Emergence of the liberal society 1951-79

• increase in affluence, leisure time, living standards, spending power

• Reform of laws that had been restrictive of private life and the development of a more liberal tolerant society

• Some voiced anxieties about the pace of social change, growth of materialism and consumerism

Decline in deference 1951-1979

• end of rationing in 1954 and relaxation of consumer credit enabled WC households to enjoy prosperity

• Challenged traditional ideas about community, social class and mobility.

• Challenged class system from a position of prosperity not poverty

Satire boom - Late 1950’s and early 1960’s

‘Beyond the fringe’ 1960 - subversive and popular - fierce controversy for making fun of establishment: the govt, army and UC

‘That Was the Week That Was’ - satirical TV show - David Frost - first time public saw political figures questioned on TV by journalists - clear change in public attitudes to authority

‘British new wave’ - 50’s and 60’s

Novels and films about WC coming to terms with the end of the old WC world and birth of new prosperity

Saturday night Sunday morning

Novel & feature film 1960 - angry young WC man Arthur Seaton, contempt for bosses authorities and community, amoral character but enjoys new consumerism

Both the book and films were popular and indicated that WX ideas about respect for authority and the older generations were in decline

Profumo scandal 1963

Sex parties at Cliveden, a stately home owned by wealthy Astor family, minister of War John Profumo had a sexual partner, 19 yr old Christine Keeler, shared with Russian Attache Yevgeny Ivanof

Prior to Profumo scandal about sex and establishment figures were routinely ignored by Brit press

Aftermath of Profumo

People were shocked as Profumo had denied such behaviour - resigned march 1963 - some believe the scandal led to the election defeat by 4 seats in 1964

People were shocked that establishment members acted this way and lied about it. Decline in deference

1950’s attitudes toward sex

Viewed that the state had a role in regulating private sexual behaviour, particularly homosexuality.

Sex education 1949

Less than 1/10 of the population had recovered any kind of sex education - little evidence that parents discussed sex with children

Venereal disease

Cases of Venereal disease were high until the discovery of penicillin, prostitution flourished during WW2

1950’s study concluded that — of women born between 1894 and —— had experienced ——

1/5, 1904, premarital sex

Half of all women porn between 1924 and —— had sex before marriage

1934

Love without fear

1941 book which explained that both men and women could enjoy sex had sold 3 million copies

Sexual revolution?

There was a big difference between what people said about sex and what they actually did

Britain might not have experienced a sexual revolution in the 1960s instead that sexual behaviour had been steadily changing through the century - a revolution in how open people were to discuss sex

The Sexual Behaviour of Young People — published 1965 - interviews with 2000 teenagers

• 1 in 3 boys and 1 in 6 girls between sixteen and nineteen had had sex

• Nearly all of those had been in established relationships

Rolling Stones 1967

Members Mick Jagger and Keith Richard were briefly imprisoned for possession of narcotics

The Times newspaper castigated the establishment for over reacting - ‘generation gap’

Geoffrey Gorer survey

Attitudes toward premarital sex, homosexuality, infidelity and contraception in 1969 were very similar to those of the 1950’s

The Lady Chatterley trial

• penguin books published in 1960 - the story of an aristocratic woman who has an affair with her groundsman

• Govt prosecuted under the Obscene Publications 1959 - jury considers ‘literary merit’

• Jury found in favour of Penguin

• Laws surrounding obscenity were outdated and British attitudes were changing

Growth of the porn industry

Soho became known for shops selling porn - porn was illegal but the Obscene Publications Act was ambiguously worded = low printing costs and corrupt policemen enabled the industry to flourish

1957 Wolfenden Report

There had been a decline in morality since the was and that family life had been weakened

Lord Wolfenden believed tha there should be harsher laws against prostitution BUT that homosexual acts between 21 yr olds in private should be decriminalised

I.e the state could police public acts of sexuality but it had no right to regulate private life

The Sexual Offences Act 1965

Decriminalised homosexuality - 85% disapproved of homosexuality and half believed it should be punished more harshly

The Moors murders

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady convicted of killing three children in 1966 - the press focused on the fact thy were unmarried and in a sexual relationship, creating a link between this and their violent crimes

Mary Whitehouse

• launched Clean Up TV in 1964

• Believed TV was the most coorupting medium in modern life and was introducing in-Christian ideas to Brit youth

• At the first meeting of Clean Up Tv over 70 coaches full of campaigners filled Birmingham town hall - most criticism aimed at BBC

• Condemned scenes of drinking, criticism of the royal family, and references to crime - her views were often more extreme than her supporters

The NVALA

Cofounded by Whitehouse 1965 - attracted campaigners from the Gen Pop, senior bishops, police chiefs and MPs

Opposed to sex, violence, swearing on tv + members associated permissiveness with creeping socialism

Whitehouse claimed that NVALA had 100k members - fear of ‘moral decline’ was widespread

NVALA impact:

Members mostly from outside london: midlands, northwest, northeast, Scotland, wales, NI

Many looked at london with suspicion and disgust - associating it with ‘swinging sixties’ pornography and promiscuity

It is possible that Whitehouse exaggerated its membership - little evidence that the media ever took it seriously - NVALA made a lot of nouse and gained a lot of publicity but its influence on TV and radio programming was minimal

Successes of the NVALA

May have influenced legislation banning child porn with the Protection of Children Act 1978 and indecent advertisement with the Indecent Displays Act 1981 - got the movie Deep Throat banned in Britain and in 1976 got a Danish film maker banned from Britain for wanting to make a film about christ’s sex life

Successful blasphemy trial against Gay News for a heretical open about Christ

The festival of light

Founded by Malcolm Muggeridge and Mary Whitehouse, rockstar Cliff Richard, Labour cabinet member Lord Longford and Christian missionaries Peter and Janet Hill

Aimed to prevent the sexualisation of TV and promote Christian teachings

1971 lightings of beacons on hilltops nationwide - 100k took part - did little to change attitudes or content on TV - overtly evangelical approach was alienating for non-church goers

Malcolm Muggeridge

Infamous drinker and womaniser throughout his adult life until his religious conversion in the 1960’s - critical of new affluence and materialism

Lord Longford

Devout catholic - funded his own report into porn and visited sex industry in Copenhagen to investigate the effects of an end to censorship - in 1972 concluded that the 1959 Obscene Publications Act made it easy for porn to be published