social class and liberal society

change in social class and decline in deference 1918

WW1 caused a decline in upper class support.

• High deaths among upper class

  • 1914: 6 peers, 16 baronets, 6 knights and 261 sons of aristocrats died

  • Families forced to pay death duties and unable to afford their homes and land

• WC losing faith and trust in upper class due to anti-liberal policy of conscription and extensive death toll of 1.1 mil

• British saw military leadership as ‘donkey’s who sent volunteer soldiers to deaths

  • General Haig — Somme, 60,000 deaths on day 1

‘Decline in deference’:

• WW1 criticism of leadership

• Rep of the people act 1918 (fewer voters for right wing parties, rise of labour, liberal decline)

• 1919: fears of revolution in places like Clydeside

• Trade unions

  • Success with negotiating work conditions due to the fear of communism

  • 1926: the times attacks strikers as unpatriotic

  • Decline in union membership during great dep.

• WW2: evacuation, homelessness and rationing created solidarity between the classes, WC saw the other side and MC reported on poor state of deprived people, bedwetting was blamed by host families as caused by poor parenting

liberal society 1918-76

Evidence for liberal society:

• ‘Full employment’ commitment — fuels liberal society with disposable income, levels of social mobility made people question the class system, consumer capitalism and made unions more powerful in negotiating rights

• Growth of ‘satire’ — late 1950s, making fun and criticising politics/upper classes (e.g ‘that was the week that was’ show and ‘beyond the fringe’ stage show)

• ‘New wave’ cinema — late 1950s saw films about wc and new emerging class (e.g saturday night sunday morning about man who hates his boss but equally hates the wc community and enjoys the benefits of consumerism)

• Sex scandals — parties at stately home of wealthy Aster family, war minister Profumo in a relationship with a woman involved with a soviet attaché in 1963 (people shocked by politicians doing scandalous things but also that they were lying about it rather than admitting)

• 1950s: less than 1/10 of population received sex ed but ½ of women born 1924-34 had premarital sex (only 1/5 for age group 20 years older)

• 1960s: 1 in 3 boys and 1 in 6 girls had sex at 16-19

• 1967 sexual offences act decriminalised homosexuality

• Lady Chatterly trial — end of censorship of books and magazines and pornography industry (technically still illegal but laws allowed obscenity if it had reason or merit)

• Secularisation after war (church of England holy communion fell from 3 mil to 2.5 1935-45 and 2 mil by 1970)

Evidence against a liberal society:

• Attitudes towards sex in 1950s were similar to the 60s, and had been steadily changing throughout the century (e.g Chesser 1941 sex advice book ‘love without fear’) so argued that sexual revolution wasn’t as dramatic as made out to be

• Abortion and homosexuality laws were unpopular among public and politicians like Wolfden wanted to make harsher punishments for prostitution

• Most people didn’t experience a ‘swinging sixties’ and didn’t partake in hedonism

• Lady Chatterley trial, prosecuted under Obscene publications act 1959

• Moors murders 1966, newspapers focused on their premarital sexual relationship as connected to their violent crimes

• Moral panic about youth due to tabloid stories of crime and vandalism

• 1964: Mary whitehouse ‘clean up TV’ campaign against sex scenes, drinking, crime and criticisms of the royal family and NVALA 1965 condemned socialism with over 100,000 members

  • NVALA made up of people outside of London (associated with ‘swinging sixties’ and promiscuity)

  • It is possible that Whitehouse and supporters exaggerated its membership from the start

  • Little evidence media took NVALA seriously despite a lot of publicity and noise

• Malcolm Muggeridge — founded the festival of light organisation in late 60s (along with Whitehouse, Cliff Richard, Lord Longford etc)

  • Aimed to prevent sexualisation of TV and promote Christian teaching

  • Nationwide events in 1971, 100,000 took part in lighting beacons on hilltops

  • Did little to change TV or attitudes and evangelical approach alienated people who had same concerns but weren’t religious

• Lord Longford’s report into pornography, visited Copenhagen’s sex industry to investigate effects of no censorship and found 1959 Obscene publications act made it easy for pornography to be published, calling for censorship of materials that ‘outrage contemporary standards of decency’

changing status and role of women