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Anne McElvoy explores how the 'permissive society' provoked a new morality-based populist conservatism, which opposed the liberal elite on issues like TV, education and inflation.

Anne McElvoy explores how the 'permissive society' provoked a new populist conservatism.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a series of apparently different issues emerged, from Mary Whitehouse's opposition to 'dirty' television, launched in Birmingham, through objections to immigration, education reform and changes in the Church of England, to anxiety about rising inflation.

Anne traces how these coalesced into a conservative moral critique of modern society as shaped by a 'liberal elite'. This was not a conservatism that defended Britain's rulers - it was one that attacked them.

With: Dominic Sandbrook, Professor Jon Lawrence, Dr Eliza Filby

Producer: Phil Tinline.

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15 minutes

Last on

Thu 12 Sep 2013 13:45

Broadcast

  • Thu 12 Sep 2013 13:45