The Permissive Society and the Moral Lobby

Abstract

In article after article in recent years, the family in modern Britain has been described as in crisis. Rising divorce rates, one-parent families, abortion, homosexuality, pornography — all have been cited as indices of a nation facing social collapse. Moral campaigners have called for the restoration of traditional values while prominent politicians, not least Margaret Thatcher, have decried the effects of the permissive society. Issues of family and morality have taken on a high national profile as parliamentarians debate abortion and embryo research and newspaper headlines announce the latest controversy about sex education or what can be shown on television. In subsequent chapters we will be examining the battles over such issues since Margaret Thatcher’s election to office. But our account cannot start in 1979. Instead, we must look to an earlier period if we are to trace the roots of the modern moral lobby and the developments which it opposes.