British Living Standards
- Created by: tomtom11
- Created on: 12-05-16 11:58
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- British Living Standards (1951-1979)
- Incomes
- Real disposable income rose 30% in the '50s
- 22% in the '60s
- 30% in the '70s
- Higher wages meant people spent a smaller proportion of their income on food, clothes, and more on housing and entertainment.
- Home ownership increased from 29% of the population in '50 to over 50% in '70
- Car ownership in the same period rose from 16% to 52%
- Real disposable income rose 30% in the '50s
- Wants and needs
- Gas sales more than doubled between '51 and '70, which electricity sales quadrupled.
- Central heating increased from 5% of homes in '60, to 50% in '77 and 84% in '91
- This allowed greater movement in the house.
- Almost every household had a TV by '70.
- Money spent on advertising rose threefold between '47 and '70
- Old Spice advertiseme-nt after 1957 contributed to more males using deodorant.
- Before, only 32% of women aged 16 to 64 used deodorant + hardly any men used the widely regarded effeminate product.
- Fashions like 'The Look meant that (from the mid-'60s), guessing a young woman's class by her dress was impossible.
- Mary Quant was a high-end boutique that ruled London's King's Road and Carnaby Street
- Biba was a boutique for more working-class girls, with cheaper clothes being sold in their London shops.
- Shops
- Was the 1950s opening of Sainsbury's in Croydon that marked the permanent start of the supermarket era.
- End of food rationing between '51-'54 gave food sales a boost.
- Roling back of the Retail Price Maintenance (a minimum price limit) allowed supermarkets to flourish.
- Restrictive Trade Practices Act (1956) undermined its use on grocery products.
- Resale Prices Act (1964) virtually abolished RPM, except in cases where it was though to be in the best interests of the public.
- '59, there were 286 supermarkets
- This increased to 572 in '61
- This increased to over 3,500 by '71
- Competition generated by this led to the closure of 60,000 local stores.
- The Consumer Association was founded in 1957, and they launched 'Which?' magazine.
- A Ministry for Consumer Affairs aimed to protect consumers.
- Consumer Credit
- Before '74, local moneylenders used by poor people weren't well-regulated.
- The moneylende-rs were also abusive and charged extortionate interest rates.
- 1974- Consumer Credit Act = clarified the rights and responsibilit-ies of lenders and borrowers, and paved the way for an explosion of consumer borrowing in the '80s and '90s.
- Inspired by the '71 Crowther Report
- Before '74, local moneylenders used by poor people weren't well-regulated.
- Incomes
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