To some people the 1960s were the best of times, to others it was a period when many things went wrong in society. Why do people have such different ideas about the 1960s?

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To some people the 1960s were the best of times, to others it was a period when many things went wrong in society. Why do people have such different ideas about the 1960s?

The 1960s was a period of vast change. Some people believed that the changes were for better and made the 1960s the best of times, whereas others thought the changes were bad and started the downfall of Britain. People had such different ideas for a number of reasons. The main reasons influencing peoples thoughts were their statuses, political views and economic status but mainly their ages. The youth were the main benefactors from the changes in the 1960s as were some of the early twenty to thirty year olds. But the older you were the worse it was. Many of the older generation were disgusted and outraged that typical traditions had been lost. This was why people had such different ideas.

Several people believed that the 1960s was the best of times due to a number of amazing and life changing factors and changes. The main changes that affected everyone were to do with liberation and freedom. This gave more people more rights and meant they were able to do more with their lives. Homosexuality became legal which was a great success for homosexual men and women as they now didn’t have to hide their feelings and were for the first time able to show their feelings to each other in public. As well as this, women gained many more rights which I will explain later.
As well as the gain of rights; men, women and children were introduced into new styles and fashions. Mary Quant was a new designer in Britain and started bringing in more outrageous styles to the fashion market. Many people thought that this was the way forward and a lot of people also believed that this made the 1960s amazing.
Intertwined with the theme of new styles and clothing, music became more and more popular and changed almost as much as clothing designs. The fashions people dressed in were heavily influenced by different types of artist and bands. The groups often expressed their feelings openly, this also meant that British government was more laid back about people expressing their opinions and giving everyone the rights to do so. This ‘Liberal Britain’ was becoming ever more popular with the population and was contributing to their feelings about the 1960s.
British technology was advancing. With the production and invention of new gadgets, progressively more items were becoming household names. Colour televisions and vacuum cleaners as well as dishwashers and tea makers were becoming more widely available. This, combined with the money people were receiving and the common use of buying in credit meant loads of people were brought up to date. This made people enjoy the 1960s and inventions such as the colour television meant that people could see events taking place all around the world.

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The events that people could see made Britain and the world extremely pleased with themselves and the development of technology. In 1966 England won the world cup, due to the invention of colour television, home spectators could see the matches live and in lifelike colours. This made the viewers feel more engaged and made the 60s seem like the best time to be living. As well as sporting events, the broadcast of the moon landing was a massive success. People everywhere were astounded by the news and the world just froze to watch the landing. This filled the people everywhere ...

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