Transcript British Depth Study How far did British society change

Welfare State
Where the government takes
responsibility for the health and well
being of its people.
Social Security
Equality of opportunity if you can
afford it; people look after
themselves; individual over the
group (associated with
Conservatives during this period).
Right Wing
Equality of opportunity regardless of
wealth; state looks after people;
group over the individual (associated
with Labour during this period)
Left Wing
Financial assistance provided to those
most in need
Women got help to
juggle working in
factories and looking
after families; flexible
working arrangements/
nurseries
1943: 443,000 worked
in armed forces
1945 80% married
women, 90% single in
industry/ armed forces
1941: all women aged 20
and over had to work
BUT: war work
stopped in 1945.
Work had been
broken down
into simple tasks
because it was
assumed women
could not cope
Women in support
roles in armed
forces not front lines
STILL: some women
managed to
continue working.
Increase in women
workers (18% 1947,
10% 1939)
What can we see is happening to
women’s roles in these sources?
How useful is this source to an historian studying the
impact of WWII on women’s lives?
Health improved:
fresh air, better diets,
balanced diets
(rationing)
Shortage of teachers,
much part time
schooling.
Schooling disrupted.
Poor children not
evacuated turned to
vandalism and petty
crime.
Psychological.
emotional
suffering: split
from families/ lost
family members
Some evacuees
treated badly.
Some homesick.
Roughly 50% never
evacuated. Many
died in air raids.
Some separated so
young they didn’t
know their parents
when they went
home. Scared and
shocked by
conditions at home.
A
B
Issue
Solution
How this led to
changes in Britain
The Blitz had led to
substantial damage.
Rebuild Britain. Required workers
and money.
Immigration
encouraged.
Evacuation had
revealed the poverty of
working class children
in the cities.
The Beveridge report make
recommendations of universal
health care, more social security
to address poverty. Required
workers and money.
The National Health
Service introduced by
Labour government
in 1948. Immigration
encouraged.
WW2 had led to large
Workers would need to be
numbers of young men brought into Britain to fill the
dying and shrinking
labour shortages.
birth rate.
Immigration
encouraged. Some
women invited back
to work.
Post war consumer
boom- more industries
and products to buy.
Immigration
encouraged.
More workers would be needed.
Cartoon first published in the
Daily Express in October 1940.
•Identify what the cartoonist is
talking about and whether it is
being supportive or critical of
the issue in the source.
•Link to your knowledge: e.g. of
the Blitz.
•What in the source supports
your opinion of what the source
is about?
Link to knowledge
Link to
cartoonist’s
details
Supportive or
critical?
TIP: It is almost
always worth
working out these
details FIRST,
annotating your
source (briefly) and
then writing your
answer. It will help
you start your
answer WITH the
answer.
Problem
Legislation (laws)
Rebuilding Town and Country Planning Act and New
Towns Act (1947)- clearance of slums,
bomb damaged housing, relocation of
many of the poorest to new towns.
Housing Act 1949
Impact
Better homes for many.
Improved health.
Protection National Insurance Act 1946, benefits for Better health care for
for
unemployed, injured, sick workers.
many.
workers
Protection National Health Service Act, 1948 (NHS)
for
Children Act, 1948.
women
and
The Beveridge report was
children
therefore important as it
underpinned these acts
Women: high quality
maternity care- average
life expectancy risen from
45-76. Infant mortality
fell from 60,000 deaths of
children under five in
1945 to 20,000 by 1975.
In 1942, William Beveridge, a civil servant, advised the
government to set up a welfare state, including a free national
health service, which was to give benefits ‘from the cradle to
the grave’ for all.
The plans were passed by the post-war Labour government in
1946. Two years later the National Health Service (NHS) began. It
was available free to everyone in the nation, and was to cover
every aspect of health care.
Training of
doctors and
nurses
Medical aids
Hospitals and
ambulance service
Dentistry
Vaccination
programmes
Medical
research
What the
NHS
provides
Eye tests
Consultants
Medicines
Surgery
Maternity care
GPs, surgeries, health
clinics, district nurses.
The effect of the National Health Service on people’s health
was dramatic. For the first time ever, everyone had the right to
free health care. Before the NHS many could not afford to visit
the doctor, let alone buy medicines or have regular treatment.
By the end of the 20th century, however, the NHS was facing one
financial crisis after another. Prescription charges, introduced in
the 1950s, rose steeply. Charges were introduced for dental
treatment and eye tests. Unable to pay for the necessary staff,
many beds remained empty while the waiting lists grew longer.
Despite the problems, anyone could be treated free when needed,
regardless of their ability to pay or whether they had insurance.
“I shudder to think of
the never-ending
stream of medicines
which is pouring down
British throats at this
time”.
Aneurin Bevan,
speaking at the end of
1948.