The culmination of the Sixties 'revolution' came in 1968: the 'year of youth'. Anti-Vietnam War protests

Was there a ‘Sixties Social revolution’?

There was undoubtedly a significant social and cultural change in the sixties. The 60’s represents a year of social and cultural liberation from the old ways of the 40’s and the 50’s because there was more affluence, consumer goods i.e. televisions and radios, increase in education i.e. 22 more universities were established and saw the emergence of comprehensive schools, sexual liberation, immigration and women’s rights. However, it could also be seen that the sixties was a result of continuity from the late 50’s which started the revolution and continued through to the 70’s. The fact that it is important to recognise that social revolution wasn’t happening everywhere, for example, the Women’s Institute flower shop. Thus we can see that there was a Social revolution but it was limited as some people were not affected by the goings on of the revolution.

Social change in the 1960’s was not universal as it did not affect everyone, it concerned mostly the educated middle class, and there were variations according to age, class and religion. The very fact that the advance of women, for example began before the First World War, was accelerated by the Second World War, and was still not complete in the 1990’s. Arguments suggest that if there was a social revolution then there is a big question as to why it didn’t last very long. It is clear to see that there was a social revolution but it has not affected everyone.

The sixties saw an expansion of higher education for the youth culture as 22 new universities were founded with a huge increase in the numbers of students. Many of these students were the first members of their families ever to go to university, or to leave home before marriage. 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. The sixties was also the decade of comprehensive schools. According to Arthur Marwick this was just one of the sixteen ...

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Macmillan led the Conservative party to a thumping victory in the 1959 general election because he was with the whole idea of consumer prosperity and had a slogan ‘You’ve never had it so good’. One could say that if there was a sixties revolution then it has happened due to consumer goods. The fact that there was colour TV’s in 1968 accelerated the consumer society and also brought to everyone’s attention the ‘world news’ and international media images. Macmillan was able to use media to his advantage as he could use it to publicise his party. Radios also made way to popular music from singes such as the ‘Beatles’, ‘Rolling Stones’ and ‘Elvis Presley’. Again there is evidence that a social revolution had taken place because people were buying more consumer goods and were listening to music, thus showing that there was affluence in the air.

There were significant cultural developments in the early 1960s towards sex that reflected the new mood. Social change was also visible in legislation. Under the Labour government after 1964, especially influenced by a reform-minded Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, the law was liberalised in respects of abortion, homosexuality and divorce. Abortion had been illegal and unmarried mothers were stigmatised. However the abortion law was passed in 1967; the Wolfenden Report of 1965 opened the way for some-sex relationships ‘between consenting adults over 21’. The very fact that the government was unable to prosecute theatres and the media for sexual material shows that the government was drifting away from its old methods of censorship. This shows that there was a social/cultural revolution and saw people moving away from the old attitudes of the early 50’s.

The arrival of new immigrants from the New Commonwealth, which began with the Empire Windrush in 1948, made Britain a multi-cultural society in the 1960’s. The sixties were seen to be a time of greater equality but there were a lot of race riots especially in Notting hill. Enoch Powell a Conservative MP said ‘In this country in fifteen or twenty year’s time, the black man will have the whip hand over the white man’. Such were his feelings towards black people and this led to prejudice and riots. This shows that there were some problems in the sixties and it wasn’t all affluent. There are signs that a social and cultural revolution has occurred but in terms of immigration things bad because people were not being treated equally. Nonetheless there were some changes in terms of class and family relationships.

The culmination of the Sixties ‘revolution’ came in 1968: the ‘year of youth’. Anti-Vietnam War protests reached a peak in huge demonstrations outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. These were signs that the revolution was becoming political. The development of anti-established attitudes, some were rooted in the protests against the Suez invasion, others reflected in the rise of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament saw Labour come back to power in 1964. The re-emergence of the Labour Party, with Harold Wilson as leader saw the importance of personal freedom due to legal reforms. The reason why labour got back in to power was because they were more in tune with radical social and cultural changes and were able to deal with a revolutionary new attitude towards matters of sexual behaviour. The Labour government was able to use the sixties revolution to give the people what they wanted and this again shows that a sixties revolution did happen because people’s attitudes were changing and the government had to change to be in tune with the public.

Considering the fact that there was a lot of change from the late 50’s and the early 70’s in terms of education, feminism, consumer goods, immigration and government legislations it is clear to me that there was a Sixties revolution to some extent. Also acknowledging the fact that revolution means having a dramatic change I believe that there were a lot of dramatic changes in the Sixties. However, I don’t believe that this revolution had started in the Sixties because it is my belief that it had started in the late 50’s but it was catalysed by the Second World War. One must also ask if there was a sixties revolution then why did it not last? And if it was a time of greater equality why did the cold war continue? There had been a lot of social and cultural changes for example people had greater freedoms in fashion and self expression which was not recognised in the 50’s.

Kumar Mehta Sixties Essay Mr. Jefferson Page: