Making of Modern Britain AQA A-Level - 1960s Exam Preparation
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Course
The Making of Modern Britain
Institution
AQA
This document contains several thorough plans for the following questions;
- ‘The Labour government between emphasized the idea of modernity’. Assess the validity of this view (25).
- ‘Liberalizing legislation between 1964 and 1970 transformed British society’. Explain whether you agree ...
‘The Labour government between 1964-1970 emphasized the idea of modernity’. Assess the validity of this view
(25).
Gut reaction: Within some elements this is valid, yet mostly they did not.
Points for-
● ‘White heat’ was central to the Labour government.
o ‘we are living in the jet age but we are governed by an Edwardian establishment mentality’
o By the sixties, ¾ of Britain had televisions & consumerism (hypermarkets); feeling of modernity swept
across the nation.
o Anglo-French partnership Concorde’s first flight into 1969 + BT tower 1964.
▪ Symbols of scientific and technological progress.
o But,
▪ Scrapped TRS2 in 1965 over costs.
● Permissiveness of the sixties was embodied within the government.
o Wilson himself promoted a classless image with his pipe; reflected trends in fashion (Britain fashion
capital of world) wherein one’s style did not necessarily reflect their position in society.
▪ Captured with The Beatles.
o Roy Jenkins’ liberal reforms.
▪ 1967 Abortion Law – legalized abortion, guided by new moral beliefs (Thalidomide disaster +
35,000 women admitted yearly to hospital from backstreet abortions).
o But,
▪ 1967 Sexual Discrimination’s Act only partially decriminalized homosexuality under certain
conditions, hence modernity only to an extent.
▪ Private members’ bills (David Owen + Leo Abse), not government promoted.
Points against-
● Failed to modernize the economy.
o Stop-go cycle; failure of the DEA under Brown; £800m deficit.
o Pinned down by union power.
▪ Consensus politics & In Place of Strife.
▪ Seamen 67’ strikes provoked runs on the pound.
o Party of devaluation.
o Although arguably they did emphasize the idea of modernity but just didn’t achieve it.
● Remained subservient to America and alien to EEC
o Special relationship.
▪ Provided moral support in order to retain financial backing (historically seen by Marshall Aid,
now in the form of IMF loan backing).
▪ Macmillan’s metaphor for ‘we are the Greeks to their Romans’ asserted Britain as America’s
wise counterpart, however the metaphor facilitated the thinking that Britain, as the Greeks,
were slaves.
● Key policy emphasized them as a continuation of Etonian thinking.
o Race Relations Act 1968 – Outlawed racial discrimination unsuccessfully, despite Britain moving
towards a more multicultural society.
o Commonwealth Immigration Act 1968 – Limited influx of potential 200,000 Kenyan Asians.
o Although these policies were arguably signs of modernity.
9/10 in London didn’t believe in mixed-race marriages, ending discrimination thus was very
modern.
,‘Liberalizing legislation between 1964 and 1970 transformed British society’. Explain whether you agree or
disagree with this view.
Gut reaction: No doubt many policies had profound impacts on society, yet the idea that it ‘transformed’ British
society seems hyperbolic to me; leaning towards disagreeing.
Agree:
● Liberalizing legislation surrounding family planning and family planning can be deemed to have transformed
society.
o Family Planning Act 1967 allowed local authorities to provide contraceptives & advice; theoretically
transformed society by identifying the social issue of low-income groups being at the risk of economic
struggle by having more children than they could afford.
o 1967 Abortion Act permitted legal termination in first 28 weeks pending doctor’s approval; previously
against as an inherently taboo subject.
▪ Number of abortions increased from 4 per 100 live births (1968) to 17.6 (1975)
o Although arguably these reflect changes in society already/little impact.
▪ Abortion
● Thalidomide Disaster
● 35,000 hospital visits from backstreet abortions, an issue illuminated by Ken Loach’s
Up the Junction (75% TV 1961)
▪ Family planning.
● Number of illegitimate births rose from 5.7% in 1960 to 8.2% in 1970, hence
suggests that it did not transform society.
● The liberalizing legislation in regard to higher education between 1964 and 1970 can be said to have
transformed British society.
o By 1968; 30 polytechnics & 56 universities.
o Open university targeted previously excluded social groups, such as housewives, working-class and
disabled.
Disagree:
● The liberalizing legislation concerning female equality can be regarded as not having ‘transformed British
society’.
o Equal Pay Act 1970 did not come into force until 1975.
o Divorce Reform Act enabled lower-class women to attain freedom.
▪ 1950s – 2 in 1000.
▪ Mid-70s – 10 in 1000.
● But, Britain remained inherently patriarchal, there was not a profound culture shift
due to these reforms.
o Although, Matrimonial Property Act 1970 empowered female financial independence by not
endangering women’s economic self-sufficiency after divorce; further removed gender distinctions
from law.
o While the liberalizing legislation was significant to an extent, the roles of women were not
transformed in British society because of that; if one must argue for society being ‘transformed’, the
2nd wave of feminism can be deemed more significant than liberalizing legislation.
▪ Women’s National Co-ordination Committee 1969 demands; equal pay, free contraception +
abortion, equal education & job opp. & free 24-hour childcare.
▪ Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963).
● Between 1964 and 1970, liberalizing legislation regarding racial equality did not transform British societies’
attitudes to race.
, o Post-war Britain had been transformed due to immigration from Europe and former colonies in the
Commonwealth.
o Race Relations Act 1965; ended public discrimination, but not in employment or housing.
o The fact another Race Relations Act had to be issued in 1968 highlights how it did not transform
society.
▪ Although, ending discrimination in employment and housing suggests a ‘transformation of
society’ due to the policy.
● Loopholes through ‘racial balance’ and police complaints not heard.
▪ Plus, 75% agreed with Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech which was nakedly racist by
modern standards.
● The most divisive piece of liberalizing legislation within this period, reforms surrounding homosexuality, did
not transform British society.
o Sexual Offences Act 1967 only decriminalized homosexuality under certain conditions, such as in
private, above age of 21 and consensual, it did not legalize the practice.
o British opinions had already shifted to be 63% in favor of homosexuality not being prosecuted; Britain
had become more permissive in contrast to Macmillan disregarding the Wolfenden Report in 1957
over potential public backlash.
o Hugely divisive issue which was welcomed by homosexual men, denotes potentially having
‘transformed British society’.
▪ Taboo remained; 93% of same survey believed homosexuals required psychiatric treatment.
▪ Didn’t end prosecutions of homosexual practices; prosecutions for gross indecency trebled.
The Labour government had solved Britain’s economic problems by 1970’. Explain why you agree or disagree
with this view.
Gut reaction; definitely not, I mean to an extent they had not destroyed the economy yet they had not modernized
the economy as initially intended and definitely did not solve all of Britain’s economic problems.
Agree:
● Over-expenditure in defense spending had been solved.
o East of Suez; below £2bn by 1970.
▪ Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore etc.
o Abandoned TRS2 for costs, a bitter pill to swallow yet was emblematic of the Labour government
wanting to cure Britain’s economic ailments.
o Persisted with costly Polaris nuclear scheme; hubristic nature of the wartime leaders compounded
economic problems.
▪ Defense cuts overseen by Healey did not go far or fast enough when compared to the
economic strife Britain was undergoing.
● The devaluation crisis is a hyperbolic evaluation, in fact the event arguably solved Britain’s economic problems.
o Inherited a deficit of about £800m.
▪ Devaluation or deflation, while the debate and delay damaged Labour’s credibility, this is a
separate issue to whether it damaged Britain’s economy, by which it did the opposite.
o By 1969, Jenkins achieved a balance of payments surplus.
o Although, inflation remained high at 12%.
Disagree:
● The immense power of the trade unions persisted; a problem Wilson’s government had been ineffective
against.
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