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Unit 1.3 (Unit 1.3.1 - How war changed society (Changes caused by WW1…
Unit 1.3
Unit 1.3.1 - How war changed society
Changes caused by WW1
Upper class: They reduced largely as majority were killed during WW1.
Working class: Families were normally unable to pay death duties resulting in a large amount of people selling land resulting in 33% of gentry being landless.
Similarities: Due to working together the classes did not differentiate themselves from each other as much. Alongside this communittees support each other massively more due to this idea of togetherness.
Changes caused by WW2
Upper class: Changes to the political system diluted the upper classes. A large amount of respect was lost for the upper class after 'the satire boom' in the 50s and 60s where politicians were mocked by comedians.
Similarities: The introduction of 'life peers' meant there was a mix of classes inside parliament. There was the idea of a 'shared experience' during the war that brought the classes closer together.
Working class: Due to huge changes in housing after the 'blitz' caused majority of slums to be destroyed meant that a large amount of working class people could no longer be identified by where they lived.
Caused by interwar economic problems
Middle class: There was a huge increase in house ownership which resulted in the middle class being 3X more likely to own a home unlike working class. Death duties were very high for the middle class costing nearly 40% of the land they owned.
Working class: During this period a large amount of them were able to get prosperous jobs alongside this prices had gone down meaning they were able to afford more.
Caused by developments after WW2
Similarities: There was a huge increase in prosperity due to the increase in things such as TVs and vacuum cleaners.
Working class: between 1944-51 there was the establishment of the welfare state.
Unit 1.3.3 - Britain becoming a liberal society
Sexuality and sexual behaviour
Did change: Under the Sexual Offences Act (1967), homosexual acts were legalised. Alongside the demand for more sexually explicit content for example The Last Tango In Paris was seen by 1 million people in 1973.
Did not change: Although homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967, the prosecution of gay men continued. There is much evidence to suggest that the ‘sexual revolution’ of the 1960s was not actually very widespread and was only experienced by a limited number of people.
Family structure
Did change: In 1967, the Family Planning Act is passed. This makes the contraceptive pill more widely available to women on the NHS, including unmarried women.
Did not change: The Abortion Act 1967 was introduced by the MP David Steel (not a member of the Government), because the Government feared that if they introduced this law, that this would lose them votes.
Leisure activities
Did change: The Obscene Publications Act 1959 permitted more use of obscenities (i.e. swearing) and explicit content (e.g sex scenes) in theatre productions, stage plays and books.
Did not change: The BBC show Up The Junction is shown on TV. Hundreds of people complain about its graphic portrayal of three young women and their sexual encounters
Religion and principles
Did change: Under the Abortion Act (1967), abortion was decriminalised. This showed that religious ideas were becoming much less influential on laws in the UK.
Did not change: Over 100,000 people attended the Festival of Light in 1971. This movement aimed to promote Christian values and protested about anti-Christian developments like the Abortion Act.
Unit 1.3.6 - Advances in women's rights
Government legislation
The Equal Pay Act was initially voluntary it was not until the second Equal Pay Act that it became compulsory.
The marriage bar ended meani9ng women could stay in their jobs even if they were married. This was due to WW2 as women were required to work.
The Abortion Act of 1967 legalising abortions.
The introduction of the pill under the NHS for women who were not married.
WW2
Women played a major role in keeping the workforce going back in England whilst majority of men went to war.
Due to women being a huge part of economic improvement as they increased the workforce rapidly they pushed for greater political equality.
Even though women went back to work after the war they did not receive the same kind of treatment as beforehand. Alongside this 50% of housewives were bored at home and wanted to go back to work.
Due to the baby boom majority of women went back to being just house wives and women. In 1949 over 900,000 babies were born.
Feminist movement
The second wave of feminism lacked clear political champions because politicians such as Margaret Thatcher did not want to be one sided and appear to only focus on gender problems.
The women's liberation movement 'popularised' feminism. This is because it stopped it being regarded as old fashioned as feminism was normally linked to suffragettes.
Socioeconomic factors
Due to the development of a 'consumer society' it was essential for middle and upper class families that women worked because they would not have the disposable income otherwise to spend.
The Butler Education Act of 1944 meant that everyone gained free education and that girls could then get higher paying jobs.
However it can be argued that women in a 'consumer society' experienced more cultural pressure to be the 'perfect housewife'.
There was the emergence of female role models on TV shows such as coronation street.
Unit 1.3.7 - Racism in Britain before WW2
Government policies
Are racist: Both the Aliens Order (1920) and the Special Restrictions (Coloured and Alien Seamen) Act 1925 were specifically aimed at preventing white dockworkers from losing their jobs to non-white workers in port cities like Liverpool and London.
Are not racist: The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act (1914) had given an unlimited right to live and work in Britain if someone had been born in the British Empire.
The workplace and employers
Are racist: They would employ them on lower wages because majority were very desperate for work as they were constantly rejected from jobs. The National Union of Seamen launched a number of campaigns to prevent black and Asian seamen from getting jobs in British ports.
Are not racist: As they were defended by the Communist party In 1930, they set up a series of strikes in opposition to the National Union of Seamen’s attempts to get Arab and Somali workers sacked in Newcastle. Also the government arranged for Kindertransport from 1938, when 10,000 unaccompanied children under the age of 17 were brought to Britain from Nazi Germany.
The public
Are racist: There were many race riots for example in East London by white labourers who claimed there jobs had been 'stolen'. There was the establishment of the 'colour bar' where landlords for example would not rent to people who were immigrants.
Are not racist: Again there is kindertransport as random families took these children in. A number of support groups were established to try to help black and Asian people who had arrived in the UK. The West African Students Union (WASU) for example.
Unit 1.3.9 - Did the British government fight against racial discrimination
Public attitudes
The government fixed this: The Public Nationality Act of 1948. Occasionally, the government did offer a more compassionate view of immigration for example through Kindertransport.
The government did not fixed this: The Commonwealth Immigrants Act (1968) was clearly encouraging racism by preferring white immigrants over non-white immigrants.
Workplace attitudes
The government fixed this: The Third Race Relations Act was passed in 1976. This aimed to combat indirect discrimination.
The government did not fixed this: During the 1920s, the government actively collaborated with the National Union of Seamen to limit the working rights of black and Asian sailors.
Everyday racism
The government did not fixed this: One of the major failings of the First Race Relations Act (1965) and Second Race Relations Act (1968) was that neither of them facilitated multiculturalism.
The government fixed this: The Second Race Relations Act (1968) extended the powers of the First Race Relations Act (1965) by making it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services (e.g. policing) to people based on their racial background.
Unit 1.3.4 - Women's rights 1918-79
1918-45 - Securing the vote:
Representation of the People Act (1918): Gave women over 30 who owned a property the right to vote along with all men over the age of 21. Then there was the Equal Franchise Act (1928) which gave everyone over the age of 21 the same voting rights.
1945-64 - Further frustration
In 1945 Ellen Wilkinson becomes Minister of Education and was involved in implementing the Butler Education Act. Then in Margaret Thatcher picked up as local candidate for finchley, despite a lot of opposition.
1964-79 - Break through at last
The Abortion Act of 1967 which legalised abortions. There was also The Family Planning Act of 1967 which legalised the pill for unmarried women and made it a part of the NHS. Then there was the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 which made it illegal to treat one worker differently to the other because of their gender.
Unit 1.3.5 - Women becoming more equal
Economic equality
Was achieved: Women campaigned vociferously for equal rights in the workplace at the Ford car workers; strike in Dagenham in 1968. The women who went on strike achieved a pay settlement that gave them 92% of what men in the same jobs were receiving.
Was not achieved: The Equal Pay Act was initially voluntary and did not come fully into force until 1975.
Political equality
Was achieved: Some female politicians had a political impact. Individuals such as Nancy Astor, who set up the Women Power Committee in 1940. There was also the Representations of The Peoples Act 1918.
Was not achieved: Generally, women struggled to have a substantial political impact, even after they did receive the vote. There were only 19 female MPs by 1979.
Social and personal equality
Was achieved: This was through more freedom for women to file for a divorce. There was also the Abortion Act of 1975.
Was not achieved: In practice, relatively few women benefited from the ‘Flapper’ culture of the 1920s. There was a lot of social pressure on women to be perfect mothers and housewives.
Unit 1.3.8 - changing attitudes towards immigrants
Government
They did change: The Race Relations Act of 1968 made it illegal to refuse to rent, employee or entry to anyone based on their ethnicity. There was also the British Nations Act of 1948 granting anyone who is a part of the commonwealth citizenship.
They did not change: One point is Enoch Powell's river of blood speech which referred to the 50,000 immigrants living in the UK as 'dependents'.
Public
They did change: There were 85,000 refugees accepted into Britain from Eastern Europe. Also 1,000 men from the West Indies were invited over to Britain to work in the coal mines.
They did not change: In early 1940, the British Government rejected a suggestion for 2,000 Jamaican workers to travel to Britain to help with labour in British factories.