3a: Class and social values | 2 The emergence of the 'liberal society', 1951-79

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  • The emergence of a liberal society, 1951-79
    • Decline of deference
      • The 'satire boom'
        • 1960: 'beyond the fringe' stage show - Peter Cook/Dudley Moor/Johnathan Miller/Alan Bennett - ridiculed establishment/ government/ Army/ upper classes
          • 'The Aftermyth of the War' sketch ridiculed war effort
        • 'That Was the Week that Was' with David Frost
      • 'British New Wave'
        • Writers/ filmmakers wrote about class - novels about working class coming to terms with new prosperity
        • Saturday Night Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe (1958) (film in 1960 with Albert Finney)- product of affluence
      • Sex scandals
        • Profumo Scandal (1963) - led to deference/satire
          • Minister of War (John Profumo), callgirl (Christine Keeler) and soviet attache (Yevgeny Ivanov) - never proved
          • Covered widely in the press - watershed of popular deference - no such 'paragons of virtue'
          • Public shocked at denial and admission - resigned 3/63 - factor leading to defeat of 1964?
        • Sex parties at Cliveden, Astor family home
        • Private Eye magazine
      • Prosperity - traditional ideas towards community/ social class/ mobility changed
        • End of rationing (1954)
        • Relaxation of consumer credit
    • The liberal society
      • 1950s attitudes towards sex
        • State regulation accepted
        • Little sex education/ discussion
        • False stereotype of being sexually reserved/repressed
          • Venereal disease, WW2 prostitution, pre-marital sex, demand for sexual advice books (Love Without Fear by Eusrace Chesser, 1941)
          • Disparity between stereotypes/ reality - steady change in sexual behaviour, revolution in terms of openness
      • 1960s attitudes towards sex
        • Misleading image of decadence/ sexual exploration
        • Michael Schofield's The Sexual Behaviour of Young People (1965)/ Geoffrey Gorer's studies (1970) - similar 50s acceptance to pre-marital sex/ homosexuality/ infidelity
        • Music/dance/clothing - Biba/ nightlight/ LSD/ 'Hair'/'Oh Calcutta' musicals/ Rolling Stones' narcotics arrests - generation gap
        • Lady Chatterley trial (1960)
      • The media
        • New openness caused by newspapers' dissemination of sexual ideas
        • Mass consumerism - advertisements 'sex sells'/ sex scandals/ discussion
      • Sexual revolution - homosexuality/ abortion laws
    • Sexuality and the state
      • The Sexual Offences Act, 1967
        • c. Homosexual Law Reform Society (HLRS) supported by Attlee/ Isiah Berlin/ A.J.P. Taylor to implement Wolfenden
        • passed by Labour MP Leo Abse's private bill - criminalising private life was 'uncivilised'
          • Untitled
      • 1957 Wolfenden Report from pressure from moral groups - 'decline in morality'/weakening of family - tougher on 'immoral' prostitution/ more lax on homosexuality
    • Affluence, leisure time, consumer choice  --> rising living standards/spending power/ attitudes towards class/deference/authority/ propreity/ morality (homosexuality/sexuality/marriage/abortion) through reform laws.

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