Mitsu Tsuyama

The Permissive Society – the 1960s
The Structure of European Society:
. White-Collar Jobs: Jobs depended on specialized knowledge acquired from some form of higher education. The middle class was augmented by the addition of technicians and managers of companies.
. People in Europe began to migrate towards more urban areas, thus the reason for declining numbers of people working in agriculture. Industrial workers began to dwindle while White Collar professions began to increase, leading to a substantial increase in wages creating a…
Consumer Society: people buying products such as refrigerators, washing machines, stereos and cars!
- Mass leisure also became popular in this time. Sports, music, media all became commercialized.

Creation of the Welfare State:
Welfare State: attempted to make life more meaningful for everyone by eliminating poverty and homelessness, providing medical services for all, ensuring dignity for old people and extending educational opportunities
. Gender issues arose from the Welfare State, as women in Britain were meant to be housewives and stay at home, but married women were given little to no rights. Employers gave lower wages to women to discourage them from working.

Women in the Postwar Western World:
Baby Boom: Declined in the 1950s, due to oral contraceptives (Condoms, birth control pills)

. Married women joined the workforce, despite lower wages.

The Feminist Movement:
. Women protested that political equality had not brought true equality.

Simone de Beauvoir: Author of the Second Sex.

"As a result of male dominated socieities, women had been defined by their differences from men
and consequently receive second class status"

Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique - stated that women were prevented from growing to their full capacity.
- Later, Friedan created the National Organization of Women (NOW).

The Permissive Society:

WWI had cracked the rigid manners of the 1920s, creating a time for sexual freedom/drugs
WW2:
  • Sweden’s Sexual Revolution!! SEX EDUCATION!!
  • Decriminalization of homosexuality, hardcore pornography, explicit plays, books movies etc.
  • Divorce rates rose due to extramarital sex!!!
  • Playboy magazine
  • LSD AND MARIJUANAJ

Education and Student Revolts:

. As enrollment increased, so did the number of classrooms. Coupled with authoritarian administrators and uncaring professors, students began to revolt. Particularly against the Vietnam War, and in France, where students took over buildings and forced the Gaullist government to give them higher wages.
. Axel Springer wrote The One Dimensional Man, where he talked about capitalism had angered man by preaching to consumption of material goods.