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Britain Transformed, 1918–97

Changing living standards

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Recall questions on the interwar divide between regions, wartime rationing and austerity, the rise in real incomes to 1979, and the rediscovery of poverty.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Process

What effect did 'total war' and austerity have between 1939 and 1951?

Numbers

How did living standards change between 1951 and 1979?

Who and when

How did living standards vary between the wars?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What effect did 'total war' and austerity have between 1939 and 1951?

    Model answer

    Rationing and shortages caused hardship, though it was more equally shared across society.

  2. 2

    How did living standards vary between the wars?

    Model answer

    Real wages rose for those in work as prices fell, so the employed south grew more comfortable while the unemployed in the depressed regions suffered severe hardship.

  3. 3

    What did surveys of poverty in the 1930s find?

    Model answer

    Rowntree's second York study of 1936 found about 31 per cent of the working class in poverty at some point, with unemployment and low pay the main causes.

  4. 4

    What was the effect of total war on living standards?

    Model answer

    Rationing and full employment redistributed consumption, so the poorest ate better than before, while overall consumption and choice fell sharply.

  5. 5

    What was austerity after 1945?

    Model answer

    Continued rationing, extended to bread in 1946, shortages of housing and fuel, and export-first policies, which lasted until the final rationing ended in 1954.

  6. 6

    How did living standards change between 1951 and 1979?

    Model answer

    Real incomes roughly doubled, home and car ownership spread, and consumer durables became normal, though inflation eroded gains after 1973.

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