Mass television ownership enabled fashions and social trends to spread rapidly. It accelerated the pace of social change. People could witness international events like the Viet Nam War, the Apollo moon landing and England winning the FIFA World Cup.
There was the expansion on higher education in the sixties. There were considerably more universities and more students. The experiences of this new generation of students had a huge influence on a wide range of social issues, from soft drugs to sexual freedoms, from feminism to anti-war protests. More and more working class people went to university, which increased social mobility. The new generation didn't bring any importance to keeping class barriers. These barriers were breaking down. The Second World War also played an important role in this movement because it brought unity and indiscrimination.
Social change was also visible in legislation. The law was liberalized in respect of abortion, homosexuality, divorce and capital punishment. Before the sixties, there was terrible stigma and shame attached to divorce, abortion and illegitimate children. In the sixties more and more people lived together without being married. The law too this trend into account. Homosexuality (which used to be a crime) was more and more accepted and there was much greater sexual freedom which was celebrated in music.
Concerning family relationships, there was more open expression of feelings with the Age of individualism, so more arguing between parents and teenagers. In fact, teenagers in an invention of the sixties. Before the sixties, family tensions were suppressed. This rise of individualism created a decline in the willingness of younger people to accept civil responsibility. People were more concerned about tights than responsibility. In fact, there were demonstrations of discontent among students which had begun in Paris in May 1968.
Mass air travel was a very important aspect of the sixties. It meant people could go on holiday abroad in search of 'Sun, Sand, Sea and Sex'. The were Hen Parties and Stag Parties for young people. The guaranteed sun was the big thing for the British. In the sixties, more and more people had less working hours (middle class and working class). Also, people were generally better off. Mass air travel meant the beginning of a continentalisation of Britain. New food appeared in British shops like garlic, olive oil, lemons, wine, rice, aubergines, courgettes, yoghurt and coffee with coffee bars. British cooking was revolutionized, as well as home decorating and fashion. Mass air travel also meant multiculturalism and immigration from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and Ceylon. Immigration communities were segregated in urban areas. There was tension, racism and discrimination, but laws controlled racism and there was gradually more acceptance.
Such a catalogue of social and cultural change provides very convincing evidence of a social revolution, both in fundamental 'new' changes and in the speeding up of changes already in motion. One key piece of evidence supporting the Marwick view is the fear and loathing that was revealed in the backlash against the new 'permissive society'.
However, there are arguments against this 'revolution'. Some people say that there was only limited change and not a revolution, that there was more continuity than change. They say change cannot be neatly compartmentalised but is always part of a long-term ebb and flow. They say social change in the 1960s was regional and not universal: where it happened at all, it concerned mostly the educated middle classes. There were massive variations according to age, class or region.
To conclude, there was undoubtedly a wave of significant social and cultural change in Britain in the sixties. Many peoples attitudes changed by following the concept of individualism. Nevertheless, this change didn't have any impact on a lot of people. There were important variations according to age, class or region.
