A COMPANION TOCONTEMPORARY

BRITAIN 1939–2000

Edited by

Paul Addison and Harriet Jones

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A Companion to Contemporary Britain

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A COMPANION TOCONTEMPORARY

BRITAIN 1939–2000

Edited by

Paul Addison and Harriet Jones

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© 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltdexcept for chapter 1 © 2005 by Paul Addison

BLACKWELL PUBLISHING350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia

The right of Paul Addison and Harriet Jones to be identified as the Authors of the Editorial Material inthis Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording orotherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the priorpermission of the publisher.

First published 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

1 2005

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A companion to contemporary Britain, 1939–2000 / edited by Paul Addison and Harriet Jones.p. cm.—(Blackwell companions to British history)

Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN-13 978-0-631-22040-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)ISBN-10 0-631-22040-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)1. Great Britain—History—Elizabeth II, 1952—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Great Britain—

Civilization—20th century—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Great Britain—History—George VI,1936–1952—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. World War, 1939–1945—Great Britain—Handbooks,manuals, etc. I. Addison, Paul, 1943– II. Jones, Harriet. III. Series.

DA592.C613 2005941.085—dc22

2004021070

A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Set in 10 on 12 pt Galliardby SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong KongPrinted and bound in the United Kingdomby TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy,and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-freepractices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have metacceptable environmental accreditation standards.

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BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO BRITISH HISTORYPublished in association with the Historical Association

This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of the scholarship that hasshaped our current understanding of British history. Each volume comprises up to fortyconcise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The aim ofeach contribution is to synthesize the current state of scholarship from a variety of historicalperspectives and to provide a statement on where the field is heading. The essays are writtenin a clear, provocative, and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars,students and general readers.

The Blackwell Companions to British History is a cornerstone of Blackwell’s overarchingCompanions to History series, covering European, American, and world history.

PublishedA Companion to Roman BritainEdited by Malcolm Todd

A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle AgesEdited by S. H. Rigby

A Companion to Tudor BritainEdited by Robert Tittler and Norman Jones

A Companion to Stuart BritainEdited by Barry Coward

A Companion to Eighteenth-Century BritainEdited by H. T. Dickinson

A Companion to Nineteenth-Century BritainEdited by Chris Williams

A Companion to Early Twentieth-Century BritainEdited by Chris Wrigley

A Companion to Contemporary BritainEdited by Paul Addison and Harriet Jones

In preparationA Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and IrelandEdited by Pauline Stafford

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BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO HISTORYPublishedA Companion to Western Historical Thought A Companion to Gender HistoryEdited by Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza Edited by Teresa A. Meade and

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO EUROPEAN HISTORYPublished In preparationA Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance A Companion to Europe Since 1945Edited by Guido Ruggiero Edited by Klaus Larres

A Companion to the Reformation World A Companion to Europe 1900–1945Edited by R. Po-chia Hsia Edited by Gordon Martel

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO AMERICAN HISTORYPublishedA Companion to the American Revolution A Companion to Colonial AmericaEdited by Jack P. Greene and J. R. Pole Edited by Daniel Vickers

A Companion to 19th-Century America A Companion to 20th-Century AmericaEdited by William L. Barney Edited by Stephen J. Whitfield

A Companion to the American South A Companion to the American WestEdited by John B. Boles Edited by William Deverell

A Companion to American Indian History A Companion to American Foreign RelationsEdited by Philip J. Deloria and Neal Salisbury Edited by Robert D. Schulzinger

A Companion to American Women’s History A Companion to the Civil War and ReconstructionEdited by Nancy A. Hewitt Edited by Lacy K. Ford

A Companion to Post-1945 America A Companion to American TechnologyEdited by Jean-Christophe Agnew and Edited by Carroll Pursell

Roy Rosenzweig

A Companion to the Vietnam WarA Companion to African-American History

Edited by Marilyn B. Young and Robert BuzzancoEdited by Alton Hornsby

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO WORLD HISTORYIn preparationA Companion to the History of the Middle EastEdited by Youssef M. Choueiri

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List of Figures x

List of Tables xi

Notes on Contributors xiii

Introduction 1

1 The Impact of the Second World War 3Paul Addison

2 The Impact of the Cold War 23Harriet Jones

3 Population and the Family 42Pat Thane

4 Cities, Suburbs, Countryside 59Mark Clapson

5 Class 76Arthur Marwick

6 Immigration and Racism 93Wendy Webster

7 Sport and Recreation 110Richard Holt

8 Youth Culture 127Bill Osgerby

9 Sexuality 145Lesley A. Hall

10 Economic ‘Decline’ in Post-War Britain 164Jim Tomlinson

Contents

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11 The Transformation of the Economy 180Hugh Pemberton

12 The Geography of Economic Change 203P. W. Daniels

13 Living Standards and Consumption 226Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska

14 Gender: Change and Continuity 245Dolly Smith Wilson

15 Welfare, Poverty and Social Inequalities 263Janet Fink

16 Education 281Roy Lowe

17 Health 297John Welshman

18 Rewriting the Unwritten Constitution 315Andrew Blick

19 The Secret State 333Richard J. Aldrich

20 Rethinking the ‘Rise and Fall’ of Two-Party Politics 351Steven Fielding

21 The Rise and Disintegration of the Working Classes 371Robert Taylor

22 The Growth of Social Movements 389Holger Nehring

23 Civil Society 407Nicholas Deakin

24 The Politics of Devolution 427Christopher Harvie

25 The Politics of Northern Ireland 444Thomas Hennessey

26 Britain in the World Economy 463Catherine R. Schenk

27 The End of Empire 482Bill Schwarz

28 The Anglo-American ‘Special Relationship’ 499Michael F. Hopkins and John W. Young

29 Britain and Europe 517James Ellison

viii contents

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30 British Defence Policy 539Simon Ball

Select Bibliography 556

Index 567

contents ix

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Figures

1.1 Offences known to the police in England and Wales, 1939–1945: breaking and entering; receiving 5

11.1 Total public expenditure by economic classification as % of GDP at market prices, 1900–1993 181

11.2 Total public sector receipts as % of GDP at current market prices,1948–2000 182

11.3 UK growth, 1948–2000 18611.4 UK employment and unemployment, 1948–2000 19111.5 Industrial disputes in the UK, 1939–1999 19311.6 Changes in UK prices, 1948–2000 19511.7 Changes in the level and direction of the UK’s international trade

in goods 19612.1 Contribution of major sectors to GDP relative to the national

average, by standard planning region, 1998 20612.2 (a) Numbers employed in manufacturing, by county, 1951;

(b) distribution of the urban population of Great Britain, 1951 20812.3 The changing geography of the assisted areas in Britain:

(a) 1945–1960; (b) 1979; (c) 1984; (d) 2000 21114.1 Economic activity rates 24626.1 UK goods exports: share of selected categories, 1970–2002 47226.2 UK balance of trade in goods and services, 1970–2000 47326.3 UK trade as % of GDP, 1948–2002 47326.4 Foreign investment as % of GDP, UK, 1963–2002 47526.5 Nominal exchange rate of sterling, 1975–1999 477

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Tables

1.1 Industrial disputes, 1939–1945 61.2 Total public expenditure as a percentage of GDP 153.1 Mortality by social class: standardized mortality ratios for men aged

20–62 from all causes, England and Wales, 1910–1912 to 1991–1993 46

11.1 Relative levels of labour productivity in selected countries 18711.2 The structure of employment, selected countries, 1950–1995 18911.3 Capital intensity across the total economy for selected countries 19011.4 UK labour force: size and composition by sex, selected years,

1939–2000 19111.5 The UK’s relative economic decline 19812.1 General indicators of the geography of the British economy,

1999–2000 20412.2 Employment changes, by region, Great Britain, 1951–1961 21012.3 Change in composition of total employment, by sector,

Great Britain, 1961–1987 21312.4 Actual and proposed dispersal of Civil Service posts from London,

1963 onwards 21712.5 LLMAs scoring highest or lowest on an amalgamated index 21813.1 Selected items of consumer expenditure in the UK, 1935–1995 22913.2 Index of selected items of consumer expenditure in the UK,

1935–1995 23013.3 Index of household expenditure in the UK, 1971–1999 23120.1 Labour and Conservative votes compared, 1945–2001 35223.1 Membership of selected voluntary bodies, UK 41523.2 Changing roles of civil society and state in post-war Britain 42023.3 Voluntary sector income, UK, 1999–2000 42226.1 UK share of world manufactured exports 47230.1 Strength of the armed forces, 1968–1991 54030.2 British defence expenditure during the Cold War 540

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30.3 Comparative performance of German Second World War assault rifle and British service rifle introduced in 1986 542

30.4 SDR 1998: British defence priorities, 1998–2015 54830.5 Bomber Command and Joint Bomber Command-SAC targeting

plans for a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union 54930.6 Comparison of losses of RAF and USAF fast ground-attack aircraft,

18 January–15 February 1991 553

xii tables

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Notes on Contributors

Paul Addison is Director of the Centre forSecond World War Studies at the Uni-versity of Edinburgh. He is the author ofThe Road to 1945: British Politics and theSecond World War (1975) and Churchill onthe Home Front 1900–1955 (1992). WithAngus Calder he edited Time to Kill: TheSoldier’s Experience of War in the West1939–1945 (1997) and, with JeremyCrang, The Burning Blue: A New Historyof the Battle of Britain (2000).

Richard J. Aldrich is a professor of politicsat the University of Nottingham. His most recent book was The Hidden Hand:Britain, America and Cold War SecretIntelligence (2001). He is currently work-ing on a British Academy-supported pro-ject on confidence, communications andsecurity.

Simon Ball is Senior Lecturer in ModernHistory at the University of Glasgow. Hismost recent book is The Guardsmen:Harold Macmillan, Three Friends and theWorld They Made (2004).

Andrew Blick works as a political researcher.He obtained his first degree in governmentand history from the London School ofEconomics, and in 1999 was an intern at10 Downing Street. He is the author of ahistory of special advisers in British politics,People Who Live in the Dark (2004).

Mark Clapson works at the University ofWestminster. His many publications in-

clude A Bit of a Flutter: Popular Gamblingand English Society, 1823–1961 (1992),Invincible Green Suburb, Brave New Towns:Social Change and Urban Dispersal inPostwar England (1998), and A Social His-tory of Milton Keynes: Middle England/Edge City (2004).

P. W. Daniels is Professor of Geography at the School of Geography, Earth andEnvironmental Sciences, University ofBirmingham. He has undertaken researchand published numerous articles and bookson the location and development of officeactivities, on the role of service industries,especially producer services as key drivers of metropolitan and regional economicchange on a variety of scales, and on trans-port and travel in cities, especially thejourney-to-work impacts of relocating of-fice functions.

Nicholas Deakin read modern history atOxford University and subsequently took adoctorate at the University of Sussex. Hehas worked as a civil servant and in localgovernment, and has also chaired nationaland local voluntary bodies. From 1980 to 1998 he was Professor of Social Policyand Administration at the University ofBirmingham and has subsequently held vis-iting appointments at the University ofWarwick and now at the Centre for CivilSociety, London School of Economics. In1995–6 he chaired the Independent Com-

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