British Society 1964-1975

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Social Reforms

What were some of the social reforms in the 1960's?

*Race Relations Act 1965 & 1968 - prohibited race discrimination in public places

*Sexual Offences Act 1967 - male homosexual in private between two consenting adults

*Commonwealth Immigration Act 1968 - limited immigration

*Abolition of the death penalty 1969 and Divorce Reform Act in 1969

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British Society

Did British society go through change or continuity 1964 - 1979?

Change:

*There were more strikes over pay and inflation - Miners Strike 1972

*Changes in attitudes following social laws such as divorce refroms act and the sexual offences act.

*Attitudes towards immigrants was becoming stricted - Commonwealth Immigration Act 1968

Continuity:

*Stop-Go policy Heath continued.

*Despite the new social acts attitudes towards homosexuality remained generally the same.

*Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) continued

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British Economy - Economic Debate

Post War Economic Consensus:

*Relatively high levels of public spending

*High levels of emplyoment

*Relatively high levels of taxation to fund the large public sector

'Free Market' Liberal Economics:

*Levels of public spending to be reduced

*State to take a reduced role in providing employment

*Taxation to be reduced as a consequence of lower public spending

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British Economy

Between 1970 and 1979 unemployment rose from just over 600,000 to nearly 1,500,000.

1976 - Devaluation of the Pound

*This took place because:

         *The deficit had grown considerably & Wilson had gotten another loan from the IMF.

         *There was an increase of exports and a decrease of imports.

*This impacted on the economy as it was bad for the financial sector and people lost confidence in economy.

The Selsdon Man

*An imaginary anti-Keynsian, pro-market individual. The new type of Conservatism. Heath proposes plans for a free market.

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British Economy

1971 - Industrial Relations Act

*An extension of 'in place of strife' where it restricted the rights of workers to strike by introducing 'unfair industrial practice'.

*The Unions reject this. This leads to them going on strike and production falling.

1973 - OPEC Oil Crisis

*Exports cut by OPEC. This leads to oil prices increasing and causes recession.

*This affects the industries that are reliant on oil.

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