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Early XX century : Loss of certainties + growing sense of frustration

Early XX century : Loss of certainties + growing sense of frustration. After WWI: rise of labour Party and trade unions Hardships for coal miners , shipbuilders , cotton workers Unemployment ( dole queues ) 1926 : general strike

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Early XX century : Loss of certainties + growing sense of frustration

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  1. Early XX century: Loss ofcertainties + growingsenseoffrustration • After WWI: rise oflabour Party and tradeunions • Hardshipsforcoalminers, shipbuilders, cottonworkers • Unemployment (dolequeues) • 1926 : general strike • 1920s: developmentof radio boradcasting 1026 : monolpolyto BBC • Crisis: Depressionafter 1929 • mid 1930s : slightrecovery => rearmament • 1936: abdicationof Edward VIII => George VI (1936-1952) • Spanish war wonbyrebelGeneral Francisco Franco helpedby Mussolini and Hitler • Declineofheavyindurstry => populationdriftnorth > south

  2. WWII 1939-1945 (GermaninvasionofPoland) • Defenceofdemocracy, governmentcontrols, conscription, rationing, air raids • The BattleofBritain (1940): defeatofLuftwaffeby the Royal Air Force • the Blitz (from German, "lightning") period of sustained bombing of the UK by Nazi Germany. • the D-Day (delivery day, June 6th 1944) the Allieslanded in Normandy.

  3. The Blitz. Starting on 7 September 1940, London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 57 consecutive nights.  More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged, and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, almost half of them in London

  4. The Battle of Normandy, from June 1944 to August 1944 => Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. • Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day • some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.

  5. D-Day

  6. Consquencesof WWII in Britain • Immense costs (humanlives, land, industries, culture, etc. • India BurmaCeylonMalayaSingpore: demandedindependenceforfightingagainstGermany • Labour Party (ClementAttlee) wonelectionspromisingHealth service, newcouncilhouses, social security • US loans (Marshall AidProgramme 1947 Help topreventEuropeancountrisfromfalling under Russianinfluence)

  7. The Welfare State • Phraseusedduring the war tocontrastHiltler’s “warfare state” • Totalityofschemes and servicesthroughwhich the centralGoverment and the localauthoritiesassumed the responsibilityfordealingwith the social problemsofcitizens “fromcradleto grave” • Social security=incometothosewhocouldn’t work, medical service, housing, education, jobs. • Nationalizationofpower and industry (coal, electricity, gas, iron steel); transport (airlaines and railways), and credit (The Bankof England)

  8. The 50s • 1952:suddendeathof George VI : nation’s loyaltytoinstitutions and cmonarchy • 1953: coronationof Elizabeth II • NEW AFFLUENT SOCIETY: • TELEVISION: expansionof a new “institution” thatexporessed the newconsumerism, affluence and hedonism • BBC generali aims: a mixtureofinfromation, education, entertainment

  9. UK and USA society The ‘50s Full employment, good wages, public services, technical improvements Sudden blossoming of mass prosperity A 1950s advertisement for Coca-Cola

  10. UK and USA society The ‘50s: social phenomena Consumerism Television as revolution Change in style with popular series and quiz shows Another 1950s advertisement for Coca-Cola

  11. UK and USA society The ‘50s • Families have cars, phones, washing-machines, refrigerators, their own houses. • Education bigger affluence in universities and college which receive the government financial support. A 1950s housewife

  12. UK and USA society The ‘50s: social phenomena Hedonism Recreational activities Equipments and clubs A 1950s advertisement for cigarettes

  13. UK and USA society The ‘50s: the young and theirtastes • Great interests in music, fashion, drinks and vehicles. • Working-class adolescents spending money on their pleasures. Poster for Rebel without a cause (1955)

  14. UK and USA society The ‘50s: the young and theirtastes • Leisure activities dancing and listening to rock’n’roll. • Negative mood of the “angry young men” •  moral independence, sexual ethics, public decency •  The Homosexual Act (1957) Poster for Rebel without a cause (1955)

  15. A new economy Bretton Woods Agreements (1944) ONU GATT (1947) (General agreement on traffic and trade) IMF (1945) (International Monetary Fund) Old market economy Mixed economy Passive State Welfare State

  16. The 60s: Technologicalcivilizationcultural revolution • Openenss ; newintellectualleft • Againstnuclearweapons • “Permissiveness” and the Hippies • Abolitionof capital punishment • 1963 “annusmirabilis” (Philip Larkin)-1970: abortion, contraceptives, homosexuality, divorce and propertyacts, race discrimination, minoritylanguages (Welsh).

  17. Great Britain • 1960s: international spread of English language literary and cultural influence abroad. • 1970s: global economic slowdown and industrial strife. • 1980s: economic growth due to the inflow of substantial North Sea oil revenues. The Beatles An oil platform in the North Sea

  18. UK and USA society Golden Age and Bretton Woods’s failure Golden Age and Bretton Woods’s failure Economicmiraclefrom 1950 to 1968 Deep political and social changes Crisis of 1973 and inflation CartelslikeOpec High public debt and new monetary economy High prices and low wages Welfare State

  19. UK and USA society The ‘60s: London • New centre of fashion, replacing Paris. Mary Quant, fashion designer credited for inventing the miniskirt and the hot pants

  20. UK and USA society The ‘60s: London • Immigrants from the colonies attracted by the UK’s promise of employment, moved to the inner-city areas  suffer social deprivation, racism, hostility. Indian students protesting

  21. UK and USA society The ‘60s: the young • Sensitive to their age spiritual problems •  Commitee for nuclear disarmament and pacifist march in Trafalgar Square led by Bertrand Russell (1961). • Mood of irriverence and rebellion •  university occupations and demonstrations. A student demonstration

  22. UK and USA society The ‘60s: the young • Theswinging sixties= quest for self-expression and liberation •  drugs, discos, progressiveness in education, pop music and poetry, one-parent families, the contraceptive pill, abortion and homosexuality legalised. • 1968  birth of women’s liberation movement. The cover of Led Zeppelin III

  23. UK and USA society Youth culture • The Hippies • Status and sex minimized • No certainties  drugs • Escape from time and modern life • Natural materials in the dress style • Love, not war Hippies at a concert

  24. UK and USA society The ‘70s: decay Unemployment spread in the heavy industrial areas Economy The “Winter of Discontent” Race riots Society Drugs and juvenile violence OnlyConnect ... New Directions

  25. UK and USA society 6. The ‘70s: decay Factories with waste material Pollution Oil tankers, chemical fertilizers, noisy aircraft, traffic Individualism, selfishness, punk culture, nihilism, political struggle, radicalism (no pacifism), racism ‘Me’ Decade OnlyConnect ... New Directions

  26. The 70s “the winterofdiscontent”; Me-decade • Corruption in high places • International energycrisis • TroublesionnUlster • 1973: European Community • New immigrantsfrom the Commonwealth => 1982 Act (onlythosewithjobs are allowd in)

  27. UK and USA society Youthculture • The Skinheads • Tattoos and shaved heads • Welcome conflict and aggression • Extreme right political views = racism • No girls This is England (2006)

  28. UK and USA society Youth culture • Punks • Nihilistic battle-cry “no future” • Nothingness • Safety pins, coloured hair • Outcast status • A tourist attraction A group of English punks

  29. Margaret Thatcher (1979-1997) • She advocated: • greater independence of the individual from the state. • a higher level of influenceandleadership in international affairs (Falklands War). • She was a very close ally with US President Ronald Reagan, (elected in 1980). Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan

  30. UK and USA society The ‘80s: Margaret Thatcher Elected in 1979 • Call on individual enterprise and responsability • Illusion of a new start “The state is the servant not the master of the nation” Margaret Thatcher OnlyConnect ... New Directions

  31. The Thatcher Years (1979-1997) • Conservative party => The Iron Lady • Responsibility+Enterprise • Hard work+thrift • Free trade, low protectiontariffs • Denationalization • More efficient and competitive industry • “Citizensshouldlearnto stand on theirowntwofeet” • Foreingpoliciy the Falkland Islands - war with Argentina • 1984 T. wonaginastminers’ strike againstclosing down ofmines • 1987 Polltax (localtax on individuals, not o property) • The Eighties: YUPPIES Young UrbanProfessionals) the newjobsconsidersgood, whiole the ones n social servicesweredisregarded

  32. UK and USA society The ‘80s: Thatcher’s and Reagan’s society

  33. The 90s and after • 1990: John Major (conservative) • 1997-2007: Tony Blair Labour Party • Improving social services (education, health) • Devolution • 2003: supported American invasionof Iraq • 2007-2010: Gordon Brown • 2010: David Cameron

  34. UK and USA society The ‘90s • People involved in community action •  A new social awareness = ‘we’ decade. • Disdain for “thatcherism”=greed, coldness, disregard for minorities and the weak. The Iron Lady

  35. Gordon Brown • June 2007: leader of the Labour Party, he became Prime Minister after Blair’s resignation. • Key elements of his politics: • Environment and Housing  cuts in carbon emissions, eco-towns. • Constitutional reforms. • Health private polyclinics. • Foreign policy “solid but not slavish” relationship with US. Gordon Brown

  36. UK and USA society Crisisof 2007-2009 Globalisation Commercial banks Securitisation Subprimes Loansforeverybody No capitals WORLDWIDE CRISIS

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