The Labour Governments 1964-70: Volume 1: Labour and Cultural Change. By Steven Fielding. Manchester University Press: Manchester, 2004. x + 259 pp. ISBN 0719043646, 45.

Abstract

Labour and Cultural Change is part of a three volume set examining the Labour Governments 1964–70. Taken as a whole they claim to offer a revisionist perspective, stressing the positive achievements of the Wilson administrations and highlighting a wider range of explanations for the governments’ failures. The second volume examines international policy and the third, economic policy. This, first volume concentrates on domestic and cultural issues. It aims to construct a ‘ “total history” of Labour's dealings with cultural change in this period’ (p. 27). It examines how the party sought to come to terms with an ‘affluent society’, to deal with a changing class system, to appeal to women, to integrate black immigrants, to instil responsibility in the young and engage with participation. The aim of providing a more positive assessment of the Labour Party is advanced by setting out in some detail the problems faced by the party...