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AQA History A-level - The Making of Modern Britain 1951-2008 - The…

- - - - Increasing productivity + full employment led to higher wages; men's average weekly wage went from £8.30 in '51 to £15.31 in '61
      - Increase in private savings
    - - Slums cleared and replaced with new towns like Harlow, Essex & Kirkby, Liverpool
      - Macmillan's building program created more affordable housing and replaced those damaged in the war
      - New towns planned by Labour in '40s like Stevenage, Crawley, Corby, Cwmbran (S.Wales), grew rapidly
      - Shift in slum population broke established traditional communities (enhanced by private car ownership
    - - State subsidies to farming kept food prices low; food rationing ended in '54
- - - - Government lied during Suez Crisis
    - - Rise of issues like nuclear disarmament (CND in 1958) encouraged tendency to challenge government authority
    - - Profumo Affair
        
        Gave press an excuse to investigate sexual behaviour of those involved
        
        Previous tactics disallowing the publication of such pieces was no longer beneficial
      - Belief that the Conservative Government of '51-64 were dominated by 'Establishment;'
        
        Macmillan's government had a duke, heir to barony, marquess, 3 earls
    - - Beyond the Fringe
        
        Created by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett
      - Private Eye
        
        From '61 established a loyalty following after witty disrespect for the great and famous
      - That Was The Week That Was
        
        '62 had its debut on BBC, satirising and lampooning public figures
    - - Academic studies argued against class system
        
        Richard Hoggart's 'The Uses of Literacy', 1957
        
        Anthony Sampson's 'The Anatomy of Britain', 1961
        
        C. P. Snow's 'The Two Cultures', 1959
    - - Plays/books established attitudes and portrayed contemporary life more realistically
      - Example is 'Look Back in Anger' by John Osborne staged in '56; was very controversial
- - - - 75% married, with average marrying age of 21
      - Lives dominated by household duties like cleaning and cooking
      - Household appliances more common - rise in number of house with washing machine rose 54% and with fridge rose 58% ('57-59) - helped with speed of job, but made women feel unfulfilled in limited role; see Hotpoint machine called 'The Liberator'
    - - Deterred from working, especially after kids and marriage (only 1 in 5 working in '51)
      - Widely believed that working mothers were detrimental to kids
      - Government encouraged staying at home via Family Allowance payment for kids after their first
      - TUs discourgad woman due to fears of men being unemployed
      - Some middle-class benefited from equal pay introduced for teachers ('52) and civil service ('54)
- - - - By 1958, 21,000 Commonwalth citizens had settled in Britain
      - 75% of those immigrants were men working to support family in home country
      - Majority came from West Indies, though some came from India and Pakistan
      - In 1960s, approximately 1.25m came to live in Britain
    - - Australia super keen for migrants, and offered help with travel, jobs, housing
      - Approximately 1.32m people emmigrated in 1950s
      - In 1960s went up to 1.92m emigration
      - Many moved to Australia and N. America