THE 1960s

The late 1950sWorldwide process of decolonization

after the war which gained momentum in the 1950s

Britain granted independence to all of its major colonies

Uprisings in India, Gandhi’s successful social movements

Ghana began the wave of British decolonization in Africa

nearly every British territory is granted independence in the following decade.

1956: Britain’s involvement in the Suez Canal Crisis

Nostalgia for the lost empire in the 60s.

In 1960 the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Harold Macmillan, delivered a famous speech known as the “Wind of Change:”

“One of the constant facts of political life in Europe has been the emergence of independent nations… Especially since the end of war, the processes which gave birth to the nation-states of Europe have been repeated all over the world… Fifteen years ago this movement spread through Asia. Many countries there, of different races and civilization, pressed their claim to an independent national life. To-day the same thing is happening in Africa… In different places it may take different forms, but it is happening everywhere. The wind of change is blowing through the continent… Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact.”

The Conservative government 1957-1964

1959: comfortable victory

1962: major cabinet reshuffle

1963: Profumo affair1963: first attempt to join

the European Common Market rebuffed by De Gaulle

1965: Housing Act

the Conservatives cut taxes whilst continuing to develop the social services (including the provision of two million homes and almost two million new school places)

They stabilised the cost of living while maintaining full employment

The election slogan ‘Life is better under the Conservatives’ and Macmillan’s ‘You’ve never had it so good’ speech of 1957 reinforced the message

In contrast the Labour Party was divided over the way forward and over Clause 4 and nuclear disarmament

Triumph of the Consumer Society

Falling birth ratesmaller households

more consumption (cars, houses, leisure) for middle and working class families

Higher wagesShorter working hours« economics of abundance »Consumer goods are more

affordable and available

YET:Slow rates of growthFalling productivityDeep inequalitiesClass divisions

Richard Hamilton's collage Just what is it that makes today's

homes so different, so appealing? (1956) is one of the earliest

works to be considered "pop art".

Peter Blake

Rise of Pop culture

Expansion of the mass media (the spread of youth fashion, music and the popularity of The Beatles, TV pop music programme, Juke Box Jury)

Advent of the ‘permissive society’: drinks, drugs were available; skirts were shorter; sexual restraint was less prevalent; the development of technology including new consumer goods, colour TVs and the contraceptive pill; changes in the legal framework, particularly the reduction in censorship and new liberalising legislation

New universities sprang up

the spread of TVs/transistor radios offering the possibility for ‘personal’ leisure interests, spreading crazes and setting standards

the growing cult of celebrity – spread through magazines, the press as well as TV/radio

the spread of advertising and marketing

the encouragement to question norms, through television and magazines

Harold MacMillan1951 - 1954 Macmillan served as minister of

housing, and minister of defence, foreign secretary and chancellor of the exchequer.

1957 After the Suez debacle, he succeeded Anthony Eden

1959 won the general election, improved relations between Britain and the USA.

economic difficulties: 1962, the government's unpopularity led Macmillan to dismiss six cabinet members ('night of the long knives‘).

1963 John Profumo scandal and resignation weakens the government

His patrician, Edwardian style increasingly seemed to sit awkwardly with a more modern form of politics, represented by Labour under Harold Wilson, who came to power in 1964.

The end of the Establishment? Conservative cabinets had been dominated by public school/Oxbridge educated politicians that suggested ‘aristocratic’ dominance. Sir Alec Douglas-Home (PM

from 1963) was nicknamed the ‘14th earl’ whose cabinet contained 10 Etonians

Forward thinkers as well as playrights, (the ‘Angry Young Men’), novelists and satirists suggested the nation was being held back by the outdated morality of its

ruling eliteSince 1960 the BBC was no longer a prop of the Establishment and ‘That Was The

Week That Was’ (1962–1963) won public acclaim with its satirical ‘anti-establishment’ offerings

The ‘Establishment’ was charged with refusing to face up to Britain’s position as a declining world power and having a negative effect on Britain’s industrial position, putting a snobbish class emphasis on arts education in preference to science and blocking the advance of talent

Harold Wilson’s premiership 1966-70

Euphoria after the elections BUT1966 Strike of the seamenRecession and wage freeze1967: devaluation of the poundInflation on the riseProtest against the Viet-Nam WarStudent rebellionsNationalist protests in Wales and

Scotland (promotion of the Welsh language, anti-English mood)

Civil right movemement in Ireland: troops are moved to Belfast and Londonderry

Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech, April 1968, causes marches and riots

A ‘ghetto’ society was emerging as immigrants settled in the poorer

parts of the towns particularly in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. This posed welfare and other problems

Concern centred on the type of immigrants. New Commonwealth immigrants were ‘coloured’. Racial prejudice grew and they were the target of some violence

1958 race riots in Notting Hill in London

1970s: Edward Heath government

Collective industrial disputes: 1972 Miners’ strike

Declining living standards following the 1973 oil crisis

Dramatically high inflationFall of the birth rate (1975-78)Rash of discontent 1978-79.