Social changes influencing policies

• 1. Drink driving

  • laws on drink driving have changed due to a change in society's culture which impacted public perceptions of crime
  • 1920s = social norm to drink and drive
  • car sales increased as well as deaths from drink driving and drink driving was still a social norm
  • 1960s = change in perceptions due to campaigns, 1967 road safety act (Act was supported by technological changes e.g. seatbelts)
  • 1970s = 50% of gov surveys respondents admitted to drink driving every week
  • 1990s = 90% disagree with drink driving: society now values safety over freedom, drunk driving is a social more
• Demographic changes: immigration and racism

  • UK's demographic structure has changed to a multi-ethnic structure as a result of immigrants moving to the UK in the 50s/60s
  • e.g. 1945 = less than 20,000 non-whites in the UK
  • 1950s = UK was becoming more multi-ethnic due to events such as the Windrush generation
• Demographic changes:

  • After initial immigrants arrived, it became normalised to discriminate against them
  • discrimination wasn't illegal; this meant that racism became socially accepted (a social norm) e.g. few white people said that they would be willing to let a room to a black tenant in 1950s
  • Race Relations Act passed in 1967. It banned racial discrimination in public places. It made the promotion of hatred regarding colour, race, nationality was an offence.
  • Act wasn't 100% effective as it didn't make discrimination illegal as it was a civil law.
• Race Relations Act: 1960s

  • over time it became strengthened in order to: cover both direct and indirect discrimination and for it to become part of the equality act in making hate crime illegal
  • as a result of this and other laws that have been passed, there has been a cultural change in attitudes towards racism. This may be due to social changes such as the introduction of mixed schools and multi-ethnic workplaces
  • racism has become increasingly socially unaccepted and is mostly considered to be deviant.
• Cultural changes and LGBT rights:

  • for centuries same-sex sexual activity was considered to be immoral or sinful and severely punished by the law
  • 1967 = decriminalisation of sexual activity In private between men ages 21+ in England and Wales
  • 1980s = promotion of individualism (Section 28 banned positive speech about LGBT in schools; removed in 2000 due to respect for individual rights)
  • equal rights and more secularisation (declining influence of religion) began to change attitudes
  • Today, 2/3rds of population see nothing wrong with homosexuality compared with 1/5th in the 1980s
• As a result of the change in society's attitudes towards homosexuality, several law changes have been made: e.g.

  • 2005 Civil partnerships introduced - gave legal recognition and protection to same-sex couples
  • 2013 marriage act passed in England and Wales

  Despite legal changes, LGBT people still face discrimination e.g. 1 in 5 gay people experience a hate crime due to their sexuality

  In many areas, homosexuality is now considered a social more.
• 1967

  • Road Safety Act introduced a blood alcohol limit
  • The Race Relations Act
  • Decriminalisation of homosexuality: