British Society in 1951

• Britain was still visibly damaged from WWII.

• Rationing had just ended. 

• Young men still had to do 2 years in National Service. 

• Class loyalties were still strong. 

• Population boom. 

• Increasing social tensions. 

• Start of mass immigration. 

• Increasing social mobility. 

• There was powerful debate about the organisation of education. 

• Birth rates was consistently ahead of death rates - NHS and welfare state only increased that gap. 

• There was inward migration from the Republic or Ireland, West Indies and countries that had just gained independence from Britain. 

• Also a lot of migration outward (mainly to Australia and America). 

• People were moving away from town centres and city centres to new towns ("green field sites").

• Invention of cars - people could live further away from where they work.