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Britain since 1945: a changing society and its place in the world

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Since 1945 Britain has changed enormously: who lives here, how people live, and Britain's role in the world.

A changing people

On 22 June 1948 the ship Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury with hundreds of passengers from the Caribbean. Many people came from the Commonwealth to work, for example in the NHS and on buses and trains.
Migrants often faced racism. The Race Relations Act (1965) banned discrimination in public places.
Other laws changed life for women: the Equal Pay Act (1970).

Culture and technology

Television spread fast: millions watched the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
The 1960s brought new pop music, fashion and youth culture.
Computers, the World Wide Web (invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989) and mobile phones transformed daily life.

Britain's place in the world

Britain helped found the United Nations (1945) and NATO (1949), and stood with the USA in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) on 1 January 1973. In a referendum on 23 June 2016, a majority voted to leave the EU, and the UK left on 31 January 2020.
At home, power was devolved: a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly (now the Senedd) opened in 1999.
Worked example

Give two ways British society changed after 1945.

  1. Migration, for example from the Caribbean after Windrush in 1948, made Britain more diverse.
  2. New laws such as the Race Relations Act (1965) and the Equal Pay Act (1970) tackled discrimination.
  3. Technology such as television and later the internet changed everyday life.

Answer: For example: more diverse through migration, and new laws against discrimination.

Key idea

Windrush (1948) and Commonwealth migration; Race Relations Act (1965); Equal Pay Act (1970). TV, 1960s culture, the web (1989). UN (1945), NATO (1949), Cold War. Joined the EEC in 1973; voted to leave in 2016; left on 31 January 2020. Devolution in 1999.

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