“With the assistance of the great expansion in mass communications,

communications,
Lesson 8
A Sixties Social Revolution? British Society, 1959-1975
particularly in television, the sixties was very much an age of ‘spectacle‘
spectacle‘. “
Arthur Marwick

What was the impact of

mass media expansion?
LO: To explain how the expansion
of television, radio and the press
contributed to social changes
 Activity 1.
In pairs, make a list
of the effects that
might have resulted
from increased TV
ownership

1950 1955 1960 1965 1975

344,000 4,504,000 10,470,000 13,253,000 17,701,000
Television licenses
 Activity 2.

Source Analysis
How far do the views of source 3 differ
from those in source 2?

The aim of the BBC must be to I believe we have a duty to take

conserve and strengthen serious
listening. While satisfying the
legitimate public demand for
recreation and entertainment, the
BBC must never lose sight of its
cultural mission. The BBC is a
single instrument and must see
that the nation derives the best
advantage from this fact.
account of the changes in society,
to be ahead of public opinion ,
rather than always to wait upon
it. I believe that great
broadcasting organisations, with
their immense powers of patronage
for writers and artists, should not
neglect to cultivate young writers
who may, by many, be considered
advanced’’ or shocking.
‘too advanced

Sir William Haley, Director- General of Hugh Greene, Director- General, 1965
the BBC, Policy Statement 1949
 Activity 3.

1. Copy the timeline from Page 44 showing

the key chronology of the changing press
2. Add in the key dates for changes in
Television and Radio Activity 3.
3. Why do you think visual images and
advertisements became more important in
newspapers in the 1960s
 Activity 4.

Detailed description Explanation of

Change
of the change impact on society
The growth of TV
ownership

Changes to Radio
broadcasting

Changes in the Press

and print

The spread of
advertising

Which of these changes do you think had

the biggest impact on society?
Explain your answer in a paragraph
 How far did developments in the
Thinking Point media promote cultural change?

It seems inconceivable that when we first wrote this book the

•useModern Manners
of the word ’bloody’
bloody’ on television caused a public furore.
One of the significant changes in manners over the last few
years has been the liberalisation of attitudes towards what
can be said in mixed company. Candour, frankness and
honesty in conversation have become admired attitudes.
Television, film, certain newspapers and weekly magazines,
novels and plays and autobiographies have for many people
broken down the taboos on what can be discussed in public.
This relates particularly to the old inadmissibles,
inadmissibles, intimate
sexual experiences, detailed descriptions of violence and
every kind of physical expression and emotion

A Guide to Modern Manners, 1969 (First ed. 1956)

The advent, as a consequence in particular of the almost
universal presence of television, of `spectacle' as an integral part
of the interface between life and leisure. The most rebellious
extremism,
action, the most obscure theories, the wildest cultural extremis m,
the very `underground' itself: all operated as publicly as
possible, and all, thanks to the complex interaction with
commercial interests and the media, attracted the maximum
publicity. Thus one extreme gesture, accelerated into the next.
Each spectacle had to be more extreme than the previous one.

Arthur Marwick, The Sixties