Changes in Civil Rights, c1962-1986 » How Far Was There a Social Revolution, 1962-86?

Change and continuity

What changed: discrimination was made unlawful in new areas, and groups gained a public voice.

What stayed the same: prejudice, unequal opportunities and laws that stopped short of full equality.

Common mistakes

• Writing one long story of events. A 16-mark answer needs three aspects, such as protest, government and attitudes.
• Saying a law ended discrimination. Each Act had limits.
• Only using the two bullet points. You must add your own information to reach the top level.
• Ending without a judgement. Say how far, and give your reason.

Model answer

Government played a very important part in these years, but it was not the main reason for change on its own. Pressure groups and changing attitudes mattered just as much, because governments often acted only after others had pushed them. I will judge this by what started each change.

Government made the biggest legal changes. The Race Relations Act (1965) made racial discrimination in public places unlawful, and a later Act in 1968 extended this to jobs and housing. The Sexual Offences Act (1967) decriminalised private acts between men aged 21 or over in England and Wales, and Wilson's government gave the bill time and allowed MPs a free vote. The Sex Discrimination Act (1975) set up the Equal Opportunities Commission. The Sexual Offences Act (1967), for example, needed Roy Jenkins's support as Home Secretary. Only Parliament could pass laws like these, so government was needed.

However, protest often came first. The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 ended the colour bar on the city's buses in August that year and made racial discrimination a national issue before the 1965 Act. In June 1968 the 187 women machinists at Ford Dagenham went on strike over pay, which brought equal pay into the headlines before Barbara Castle's Equal Pay Act of 1970. Campaigners such as the Gay Liberation Front, founded in 1970, then carried on pushing after the 1967 Act had stopped short of equality.

Attitudes were a third reason. Government could only pass laws that enough people would accept, and the free vote on the 1967 bill let MPs reflect a public that was becoming more tolerant. Comprehensive schools, grants for university students and the Open University gave more people the chance to gain qualifications, and this helped to change what many people thought was fair.

Government action was also limited. The Immigration Act (1971), passed under Edward Heath's Conservative government, made it harder for Commonwealth citizens to settle in Britain. Outside government, Enoch Powell's speech in 1968 won wide public backing, which shows that hostile attitudes were a barrier too. So government sometimes held change back as well as moving it forward.

Overall, government was the means by which change became law, but it was not the main cause. Protest and shifting attitudes created the pressure and the support that made the laws possible. Judged by what started change in the first place, pressure groups were more important, and government was the necessary partner.

What lifts it to the top level: it covers the bullets plus protest, attitudes and barriers from own knowledge, weighs them, and reaches a judgement with a stated criterion.

Exam tip

Pick a criterion in your first paragraph, such as "what started the change", and return to it in your conclusion, so that your judgement is clearly justified.