The Affluent Society 1951-64

• The left wing had a strong focus on the wellbeing of people.
• The right wing believed that individuals should have more power.
• Nationalisation refers to the common ownership of production, distribution and exchange.
• Post War Consensus is also known as Butskellism.
• Post War Consensus refers to the period of time after WWII where there was a general agreement on how to run the country between all the political parties.
• The Post War Consensus included factors such as The Welfare State, Foreign Policy and Full Employment.
• In 1951, the Conservatives Manifesto promised to build 300,000 houses a year. They would rebuild the housing stock destroyed during the war.
• In 1951, Macmillan was the Housing Minister and oversaw the plan to build 300,000 houses every year.
• In 1951, the Conservatives introduced Housing, Education and Social Policies.
• In 1950, the conservatives introduced the Tripartite System under the Butler Act 1944. Children would also sit the 11+ exam.
• The Tripartite system was designed to push the intellectual children higher.
• In the 1950s, The Conservatives introduced Housing and Factory Acts aimed to improve the living and working conditions.
• Under the Conservatives in the 1950s, Butler was Home Secretary. He allowed actions on controversial issues such as homosexuality and the death penalty.
• In 1957, the Homicide Act restricted the use of the death penalty and The Wolfenden Commission meant that homosexuality was decriminalised.
• Bevan was the Minister of Health under Clement Attlee and was the architect of the NHS. Bevan was on the left of the party.
• Gaitskell was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1950-1951. He introduced prescription charges which made Bevan resign.
• Prescription charges were charges on glasses and dentures.
• The main Bevanite principles were full employment, housing for all and free healthcare.
• The Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament was the policy of renouncing the use and possession of Nuclear Weapons.
• Macmillan was nicknamed 'Supermac' because of his successful housing reforms of building 300,000 per year.
• Frank Cousins was a Politician and Leader of a Trade Union. He opposed Gaitskell over Nuclear Weapons.
• Prosperity refers to the significant rise in improvement, success and lifestyle.
• A boom refers to a rapid growth in the economy.
• The Post War Boom meant that food rationing came to an end in July 1954. The austerity of war was over.
• By 1955, less than 1% of the workforce was unemployed.
• The Post War consensus meant that there was a 6.5% rise in income. This meant that people enjoyed the prosperity so were more likely to trust the government.
• The Run on the Pound was a rapid fall in the value of the pound sterling in 1967.
• The conservative government introduced a 'stop-go' economic policy when outputs got too high.
• The 'stop-go' policy meant that controls were put in place such as higher interest rates to promote saving money and freezing public sector wages.
• When the imports exceeded exports, there was a balance of payments crisis.
• When there was a balance of payments crisis, the Government implemented higher interest rates to stop people taking out loans so demand fails and output increases.
• When the Balance of Payments crisis improves, the Government remove the controls and people can start to take out cheaper loans. There is an increase in demand and therefore, imports increase. Prices begin to rise again so inflation happens again.
• Britain was an affluent society between 1951-1964 because men's wages went up and there was an increase in home and car ownership.
• Britain was not an affluent society from 1951-1964 because there was an oil crisis due to the lack of trade that couldn't go through the Suez Canal.
• The Festival of Britain in 1951 emphasised Britain's recovery since WWII. It showed a lot of exhibits and celebration of technology and art.
• Consumer spending increased by 115% in the 1950s.
• Car ownership rose by 250% during the 13 years of Conservative rule.
• In 1959, there were 9 million TV households.
• The 'Keeping up with the Joneses' mindset was following the crowd and buying what others were buying.
• ITV launched in 1955.