Essay
A level Liberal Society Essay
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
16/20 essay based on Britain's liberal society
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To what extent did a liberal society develop in the years 1951-79?During 1951-79, Britain has transformed allowing there to be new social norms and attitudes
within the population thanks to people shifting away from Conservative beliefs. This essay
will argue that a liberal did develop to an extent whilst considering the legacy, social attitudes
and who benefitted from the new society by using the factors legislations, attitudes to race
and women.
There was a liberal society to an extent because of legislation. One example is the 1967
Sexual Offence Act where homosexual acts were legal but within 21 year old couple at a
minimum and doing it in a private setting.This shows a liberal society did develop to an
extent because it shows Britain moving away from conservative expectations and religious
beliefs as Christianity disproves homosexuality causing the act to exist much later and
before the act, many homosexuals were punished with imprisonment and were forced to cut
ties with their families. Thanks to the act, homosexual men were allowed to be proud and
expressive of their sexuality for the first time because homosexuality was frowned upon for
men highlighting a liberal society did develop. However, the act wasn‟t widely accepted
because a poll was done exposing that the majority of the public believed that homosexuality
was a disease and needed to be cured which is seen especially with Mary Whitehouse‟s
„What ever happened to sex‟ where she compares homosexuality to having acne.Also when
Thatcher entered office from 1979 and prevented schools talking about homosexuality
through section 28. Overall, there was a liberal society to an extent because male
homosexual couples were no longer forced to hide their true identity and were able to be
more expressive as Britain shifted away from conservative beliefs.
Another reason is because of women. Women had more access to freedom thanks to the
Abortion Act and Divorce Reform Act 1969. The Abortion Act allowed the legal termination of
a pregnancy of under 28 weeks with written permission of 2 doctors. The Divorce Reform
Act allowed for no fault divorce. The Abortion Act highlights there was a development of a
liberal society to an extent because before the act there were between 100,000 and 200,000
illegal abortions per year and around 3500 women were hospitalised. Thanks to the act,
women were able to get abortions especially if there was a medical emergency showing the
act was widely accepted to have a choice of terminating a pregnancy with limited
restrictions causing there to be between 3500-14100 abortions by 1975. The Divorce Reform
Act demonstrated there was a liberal society especially for working class women because in
the past, access to divorce was accessible to the upper class men or anyone who could
prove adultery was committed sp the upper class hired private investigators to find proof.
The act showed a shift from conservative beliefs because women no longer had to take
desperate measures and society considered women more by slowly drifting from the idea of
women needing to have children. Both legislations were not removed or altered showing the
importance and success for those involved. Although the Divorce Reform Act widened
access to freedom, the freedom was delayed for 2-5 years depending on if both parties
wanted to divorce therefore women were left in an abusive or an empty shell marriage.
Overall, a liberal society did develop to some extent because it gave women more freedom
to their lives as they had opportunities to end issues with little to no restrictions.
Lastly, there were changes in attitudes to race. This was shown through a series of
legislations passed including the Immigrations Commonwealth Act 1962 where New
Commonwealth immigrants were welcomed as long as they had a work voucher plus their
relatives were welcomed. This shows there was a development of liberal society because
the act impacted every non Britons including black and South Asian people which is
important because of the belief of black people not having much to offer apart from violence
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