The Right to Belong: Citizenship and National Identity in Britain 1930-1960

by Richard Weight (Editor), Abigail Beach (Editor)

Overview

The period 1940-1960 was a time of considerable change in British society. It saw the emergence of mass democracy, a world war and then unprecedented affluence. Change brought uncertainty among Britain s elites, which in turn encouraged them to reflect more acutely on the direction the nation was taking. Questions were posed: what was the social role of ordinary men and women in 20th-century Britain? What were their needs, their rights, their responsibilities? How did they stand in relation not only to the State but to their regions and communities? And how were those objects of loyalty or disloyalty defined? Who, in other words, were the British, and by what processes did they come to be so considered?; The contributors explore the development of these ideas by a variety of individuals and organizations, and the relationship between these opinion-makers and political parties. They also examine the extent to which their conclusions were translated into social policy in an attempt to shape the evolution of modern Britain."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784531805
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/30/2017
Series:	Social and Cultural History Today
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Richard Weight is Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, London.Abigail Beach is Research Fellow at the Department of History, University College London.

Table of Contents

Contributors vii

Abbreviations and acronyms ix

Introduction 1

1 William Temple, the Church of England and British national identity John Kent 19

2 From John Bull to John Citizen: images of national identity and citizenship on the wartime BBC Siân Nicholas 36

3 Citizenship, nationhood and empire in British official film propaganda, 1939-45 Toby Haggith 59

4 Forging a 'nation of participants': Political and Economic Planning in Labour's Britain Abigail Beach 89

5 'For home and country': feminism and Englishness in the Women's Institute movement, 1930-60 Maggie Andrews 116

6 'New vistas': the Labour Party, citizenship and the built environment in the 1940s Nick Tiratsoo 136

7 'Building a new British culture': the Arts Centre Movement, 1943-53 Richard Weight 157

8 Taking pleasure in England: landscape and citizenship in the 1940s David Matless 181

9 Citizen defence: the Conservative Party and its attitude to national service, 1937-57 Nicholas Crowson 205

10 From subjects to immigrants: black Britons and national identity, 1948-62 Kathleen Paul 223

References 249

Index 265