Permissive Britain: Social Change in the Sixties and Seventies

by Christie Davies

Why did Parliament go permissive in the 1960s on such issues as capital punishment, abortion, homosexual behaviour and censorship? How permissive are young people today about sex? What effect will the decreasing harshness of moral and legal sanctions have on society?

These are some of the issues discussed in this fascinating and highly readable study of social change in contemporary Britain. Permissive Britain draws on a wide variety of sociological, psychological, historical, and literary sources, and contains a considerable amount of original research published here for the first time. Using statistics to support his analysis, the author examines the causes behind recent changes in the law, and in social outlook and behaviour. He considers the benefits and also some of the possible dangers of the new permissiveness. His controversial conclusions will stimulate plenty of useful debate about whether or not this permissiveness has already gone too far.

This is the book for the intelligent layman who cares about the way our society is developing. The social science student, too, will welcome the book’s objective approach and its ample provision of sources for further reading.

Genres: History

246 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

John Christopher Hughes Davies was a British sociologist, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Reading, England, the author of many articles and books on criminology, the sociology of morality, censorship, and humour. He was also a visiting professor in India, Poland, United States, and Australia.

Reviews

[Andrew Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Davies took a discursive look at the rise of 'permissiveness', that bugbear of the New Right, and there are some interesting chapters. His explanatory framework is that society moved from an essentially moralist to a causualist philosophy (ie a utilitarian judgement about the desirability of outcomes), though sometimes arguments of one view may be cloaked in the other. Davies was a 'libertarian' sociologist who wrote articles regularly for the Daily Telegraph, as well as whole books defending racist jokes. Yet much of this book seems quite thoughtful, if at times a little random (e.g. a long tangent on the connections between homosexuality and Bismarckian and Nazi military culture) until you get to some shamelessly misogynistic views on women and the women's liberation movement. (There is also some low-level homophobia that was probably considered quite acceptable when this was written in the mid 1970s.)
Accessible and less knee-jerk for the most part than I expected, but uneven and at times offensive.