SWINGING SIXTIES:

       A Youth Culture was emerging with a set of values that was frowned upon by the previous generation. There was a revolution in fashion, music, literature, and the arts. The sudden development of mass communication helped create and sustain this youth culture. This youth culture spread all over Europe and USA. Miniskirts and kaftans made their appearance on the streets of London and San Francisco. This was the time when two singing groups,     The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, gained worldwide popularity. The new kind of music was symbolic of young people’s rejection of parental values. The reality of change was to be perceived in every aspect of life-in fashion, in a new frankness in conversation, and print. All these were summed up under the label ‘permissiveness’. Sexual and social taboos eroded with the introduction of contraceptive pills and recreational drugs. The values of this youth culture exercised sway over half the globe as the Swinging Sixties wore on.

MAJOR EVENTS:

    In the sixties, the major cities of the world were undergoing the most dramatic transformation. Bulldozers could be seen everywhere n old buildings; and in their place, mighty skyscrapers mushroomed. The higher the skyscrapers rose, the higher seemed the people’s hope for the future. The landscape seemed to be changing faster than at any time earlier in history. In the name of welfare and development, low-cost housing was introduced. Urban motorways and hideous high-rise flats, which were becoming increasingly common, destroyed the environment. Historically, it was an important decade, witnessing the death of three great world leaders-John F Kennedy, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Martin Luther King. The Cold War was becoming more and more serious as the conflicts between the USA and the USSR increased. Tension prevailed throughout 1962 in the newly – divided city of Berlin. The Berlin Wall symbolized the East-west confrontation. Mankind reached the very pinnacle of technological advancement when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969. Another major milestone in human history was passed when Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first-ever human heart transplant operation.

DEVELOPMENT IN LITERATURE:

    In the world of literature, a new type of drama called ‘Kitchen Sink Drama’ became popular. This type of drama focused very realistically on domestic life, family quarrels, marriage, and other matters about the ordinary courageous way of life. Another type of drama called ‘absurd drama’ was also enjoying its heyday. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Edward Albee’s who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was seen by a large number of people. Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead was a well-known play that was written in a similar style. In America, Joseph Heller’s novel catch-22 was published in 1961 and Norman Mailer’s an American Dream in 1965. It was the decade in which the all-time favorites Dr. Zhivago and Barbara Streisand’s funny girl were screened. Looking back, the sixties was a crucial period in the history of not only Great Britain, but of the whole world. Tremendous changes were taking place all over the globe.

Published by

Ayisha Shabana……

The Sixties of England was a decade of tremendous change in international, social, and cultural affairs. It was a decade in which man walked on the moon and the first-ever human heart transplant was carried out. Human life seemed to reach the very pinnacle of civilization. After a long time, England emerged into a period of remarkable stability and prosperity. The two world wars had caused havoc in Great Britain. The forties and fifties witnessed a crippled country slowly limping back to health. After facing so many trials, the people of Britain were finding life easier in the sixties. The society of the late sixties was relatively freewheeling and differed remarkably from the strait-leaded and traditionalist society of the forties and fifties.

What is the Political,Social and Economic life in 1960s of England?

In 1964, Harold Wilson became the Prime Minister, ending thirteen years of conservative rule. The new Prime Minister promised a ‘classes dynamic New Britain’. The Labour Party remained in power till 1970. Trade unions were becoming quite active in the sixties and would dominate politics in the seventies.

The sixties witnessed a new attitude towards class. One cannot call the decade’s society completely ‘classless’, but the differences between the upper and lower classes were beginning to become almost indistinguishable. The working class enjoyed increased spending power in a way that it had never done before. This was due to their high wages. Back in 1951, the average weekly earnings of men over twenty-one were £8.20; by 1968, the figure had jumped to £23 per week. Though there was an increase in the price of food and other necessities, the cost of small cars, television sets, and washing machines was much lower. By 1961, nearly 75 percent of homes in Great Britain had television sets. Next in popularity were refrigerators and washing machines.

A new kind of social divide was emerging in the sixties. Until1950, America was the preferred new home for migrant west Indians. But in 1952, the USA banned West Indian immigration. As a result, they turned to Britain. The new immigrants settled in the poor sections of London. Violent race riots broke out between the local whites and the West Indian Immigrants.

What is the education system of 1960s of England?

An important aspect of the liberation of the 1960s was the major progress in the sphere of higher education. Colleges devoted to the study of art and design were founded. Teacher Training colleges were upgraded and their importance was recognized. Certain colleges of higher technology became full universities, and new universities, such as the universities of Sussex, York, and Kent, were created. Primary Schools also underwent a metamorphosis. The primary school curriculum, which was under the shadow of Victorian values, was made more flexible and enjoyable. For a long time, the main focus of primary education was teaching the three R’s (‘reading,[w]riting and [a]rithmetic’) to little children. In 1964, the Schools Council for Curriculum and Examinations was set up. It was this council that brought about several innovations to make primary education imaginative and imaginable.

Will be continued……

Published by Ayisha Shabana. M