LECTURE 4. The Social & Cultural Context

Transcription

1 LECTURE 4 The Social & Cultural Context

2 ALL CHANGE ( ) Economy & Politics

3 CONSERVATIVES RETURN In 1979, Margaret Thatcher leads the Conservatives to victory. They remained in leadership until REVIEW: Prime Minister Margaret's Economic practices are often referred to as...?

4 ECONOMIC PRACTICES Monetarism...excessive expansion of the money supply is inherently inflationary, and that monetary authorities should focus solely on maintaining price stability... Reducing Inflation with High Interest Rates Free Market Theories Supply and Demand

5 INFLATION? In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy.

6 LABOUR'S DEFEAT When Margaret Thatcher was elected, inflation was ~15%. Four years later, her economic policies reduced Britain's inflation to ~4.6%.

7 INTEREST RATES & INFLATION? So how do interest rates affect the rise and fall of inflation? Lower interest rates put more borrowing power in the hands of consumers. When consumers spend more, the economy grows, naturally creating inflation. If the government decides that inflation is becoming a problem, it can raise interest rates, slowing the amount of cash entering the economy (howstuffworks.com).

8 DISCUSSION. How are Thatcher's economic policies similar or different to those of Atlee & Macmillan? HINT: Atlee = reducing government debt, Macmillan = consumerism consumerism = people buying more, which increases if prices go up (inflation), people may need to borrow more money because items are more expensive. Borrowing too much money makes for an unstable economy. SOLUTION?

9 THATCHERISM Atlee's economy keeps inflation low because the government, not the people are taking home profits. Macmillan's economy increased spending, leading to rising inflation Labour inherits high inflation (Prime Ministers Wilson & Callaghan) Average population borrows money more (because everything is getting expensive) Solution: Make it difficult for people to borrow money easily, controlling the amount of money going into the economy.

10 INFLATION GETS UNDER CONTROL......but the government became deeply unpopular. Why?

11 MANUFACTURING DECLINE Factories close, unemployment increases. Manufacturing declined and the shipbuilding, mining and steel industries practically disappeared. The regions of Scotland, the north of England, Wales and the West Midlands had traditionally depended on this kind of industry and were economically devastated.

12 WHAT CAN EXPLAIN THIS DECLINE? Heavy industry, employing many thousands of people and producing large volumes of low-value goods (such as steelmaking) has either become highly efficient (producing the same amount of output from fewer manufacturing sites employing fewer people; for example, productivity in the UK's steel industry increased by a factor of 8 between 1978 and 2006) or has been replaced by smaller industrial units producing high-value goods (such as the aerospace and electronics industries) (Wikipedia, 'Manufacturing in the United Kingdom'). In other words, as manufacturing improves, fewer workers are needed and/or higher-skilled workers are needed. Manufacturing industries shrink, unemployment rises.

13 RIOTS, POLICE

14 Search the internet for more information. What led to the riots? How did the police and government respond? Did the situation improve after the riots ended?

15 MILLIONS WITHOUT JOBS = Riots, protests and strikes Race and unemployment Atmosphere? Police VS. The People mistrust of police

16 THATCHERISM, THATCHER'S BRITAIN Greater reduction of public spending and measures to privatise industries in the public sector (such as gas, steel, transport and telecommunications). The measures were highly unpopular with the working class and unemployed, and resulted in more violent industrial disputes. They were also expensive to implement, being of great cost to the welfare state, but the discovery of oil in the North Sea in the 1970s helped to finance Thatcher s project.

17 Not everyone was unemployed at this time. Those in higher-skilled labour did quite well. Many profited from deregulation, privatization and big business.

18 A Britain divided on its economic future, politics and prime minister.

19 AT THE SAME TIME... War. The Falklands War.

20 RESEARCH: What was the Falklands War? What led to the Falklands War? What was the attitude of the British people towards the Falklands War? Who won?

21 FALKLANDS WAR Thatcher leads Britain into war with Argentina.

22 THE ENEMY WITHIN... Powerful Trade Unions Miners Left-wing local governments IRA Illegal immigrants The Greens Unreliable members of her Conservative Party

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24 Paramilitary Funding from Libya? Versus Unionists Liberal, conservative, Catholic, Protestant Assassination attempt Domestic terrorism or independence movement? Still active under a new name, and also as a political party (Sinn Fein)

25 Green politics (also known as ecopolitics) is a political ideology that aims to create an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice, and grassroots democracy. It began taking shape in the western world in the 1970s; since then Green parties have developed and established themselves in many countries around the globe, and have achieved some electoral success.

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29 Political Comedy Social Satire Using original puppets Sometimes the truest news on TV came from this show.

30 Adolf Hitler and Margaret Thatcher

31 In the video clip, the creators of this highly popular and culturally important program show Thatcher as friends with and an admirer of Hitler. 1) What does this say about the public s opinion of her personality? 2) What personality comparison can be made between Hitler and Thatcher? 3) Do you think this comparison is because she is a woman? Could this be unfair?