In Your Own Words Summarise How Hobsbawm (2003) And Sandbrook (2005) Chart Rising Working Class Affluence During Post War Golden Age?

In your own words summarise how Hobsbawm (2003) and Sandbrook (2005) chart rising working class affluence during Post War Golden Age?

There are many reasons why there was a rise in the affluence of the working class which Hobsbawm and Sandbrook both agree on, such as education and increase in employment through out the nation. There seems to be no single event or trend, which explains directly the rise in affluence, but by taking a holistic view of everything that occurred at the time helps us to understand how and why a rise was accomplished.

Education took centre stage when it comes to the rise in affluence of the working class. After the war � Occupations which required secondary and higher education’ (Hobsbawm. Pp.295), where rising considerably. If a family had the chance and the choice of sending all or even just a single child into further education then they would do so without a second thought. This was because now the working class saw that if a member of the family had a greater education they not only the chance of earning a higher wage and having a greater more job security, they also had the chance of changing their social status. This put a higher value on education then ever before. This is internationally evident as France, Germany and Britain where considered to be the great powers before the world war they but all three still only contained 150,000 university student between them. By 1980 this had all changed with the figure moving into the millions. This was because families where able to send they children onto higher education due to the higher income they where now receiving. Even the government was surprised by this shocking increase that occurred so rapidly. �The scale of the student explosion far exceed what rational planning might have envisaged’ (Hobsbawm. Pp296.). The government, through the introduction of the education acts (1918 Fisher Act rose leaving age to 14. 1944 Rab Butler rose the leaving age to 15. Education Act of 1973 rose the leaving age to 16) and compulsory leaving ages has always encouraged this rise in education.

With this increase in education there was now a more skilled labour force that demand a higher wage. This was good for the economy as it meant that the nation was become more productive and with a larger income comes a larger disposable income, which means a rise in GDP. It was not only the newly educated that where getting a higher wage, the labour force in general where receiving a higher wage. вЂ?In the 1950 the average weekly wage was Ð'Ј6 8s; by 1959, it had almost doubled to Ð'Ј11 2s 6d’ (Sandbrook. Pp 109.). This was incredibly important for the rebuilding and continued growth of the nation, also this gave a chance for the working class to change their status. There was also a great improvement in unemployment as вЂ?Between 1948 and 1970, the number of registered unemployed touched 2 per cent only eight times.’ (Sandbrook. Pp 109.). It was because of this full employment and higher wages that a higher proportion of children could be afforded to go to university.

Women also played a big role in the rising affluence of the working class. During the war women had taken over the majority of jobs that where conceived as being a mans job, now that they knew that could work just as well as men their opinions and view began to change. There was a social liberalism beginning. After women got married they would normally stay at home and look after the house and the family, they where now beginning to go out and get jobs and starting to question the iconic figure of the family being a man. � By 1981 women had not only virtually eliminated men from office and white-collar occupations, most of which where indeed subaltern though respectable, but they formed almost fifty per cent of real-estate agents and brokers and almost forty per cent of bank officers.’ (Hobsbawm. Pp. 317). Women where going to such great lengths to not only get a job but to get good job, because they now wanted independence and freedom. They no longer wanted to live on the allowance given to them by their husband, they wanted there own income. This is one of the big event which helped increase the affluence of the working class, typically