1980's: Culture, Politics and Soceity

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80's Society, politics and culture

Strikes

Cultural and social extremes

Technology

The 1980’s was a time of selfindulgence, strikes, drugs, riots, DIY fashion, Thatcher, Aids, Big Bang and Black Monday: the 80’s was a decade of cultural extremes. Issues such as race, feminism and gay rights were at the forefront - these movements were powerful in the 1980’s and made it an exciting time. The decade was a charitable spawning of organisations such as Live Aid, Fashion Aid and Katharine Hamnett’s political slogan T-shirts were becoming increasingly poplar. Bob Geldof was the driving force of this; he spread the message of starving children in Africa and asked society to do something about it.

The 80’s saw the birth of PC’s and Windows operating system, this changed the technical word as we know it. The decade also saw the creation of some of the first mobile phones. Before the 1980’s phone calls had to be made at phone boxes or home telephones. Business and consumers were desperate for something that could make communication easier, so the creation of the mobile phone was very popular. Television viewing became ordinary in the Third World, with the number of TV sets in China and India largely increasing. The 80’s also saw the start of Channel 4 and Film on Four.

The 80’s came out of the darkness of 1970s punk to vibrant culture, fashion and design. The Face magazine and iD were the style gods to those in know in the 80’s. It was about anything “designer” including designer clothes, designer clubs, designer homes and even designer food and drink. This expensive and designer culture saw the ‘yuppies’ at the center of this. These were young, motivated, and well-educated citydwellers who had a professional

Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the unions According to the BBC, Thatcher “managed to destroy the power of the trade unions for almost a generation”. Soon England was being shaken by a social, cultural and political counter-revolution. There were strikes, extreme anger and riots on the football terraces and throughout cities.

World politics

career and a wealthy lifestyle. The 80’s also saw some of the first billboard campaigns of sexy women in jeans. Celerity and pop culture influences inspired a generation in the 80’s. Boy George, Grace Jones, Princess Diana and Madonna were fashion inspirations to many and made London the ‘cool’ place to be. The major news story to hit the 80’s was that John Lennon was assassinated on December 8, 1980. An unstable fan shot therefor-killing John Lennon In New York. Lennon’s death implied the end of the period culturally. His memory still lives on as his wife still releases his music to this day.

The Cold War had ended and America was now the sole superpower, 1980’s politics was a period of major change. For the first time the public turned to television to keep updated with the political world with the start of 24 hour news such as CNN. Perhaps the most memorable political event of the decade was in 1989 with the taking down of the Berlin Wall, one of the largest representations of communism. n 1982 Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, Great Britain and Argentina fought a long war over the Falkland Islands. Argentina claimed the islands and invaded them on April 2. Britain was stunned, but determined to retake the Falklands. Argentina surrendered two months later, but not to the sacrifice of many British lives lost on the battlefield.

The Iron Lady Margret Thatcher was Britain’s longest serving Conservative Prime Minister of recent times and the West’s first female Prime Minster. She was Prime Minster from 1979 to 1990 and became known as the “Iron Lady”, a nickname coined because of her persistent politics and stubborn leadership style. During her time as Prime Minister, she implemented policies and regulations that became known as “Thatcherism”. Thatcher initiated several political and economic polices envisioned to reverse unemployment and an ongoing recession. “Thatcherism” included polices and philosophies such as, flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies and diminishing the power of trade unions. For many during this decade it felt like the world was starting anew. Many thought boom would continue; however it didn’t. In 1987 the crash came, and suddenly the Americans were gone. Things changed dramatically in most industries but specifically in fashion the big markets in America and Italy were suddenly gone.

The miners’ strike in the 80’s were the most infamous clashs between the unions and the Thatcher government. In 1984 the National Coal Board proposed to close 20 of the 174 state-owned mines and cut 20,000 jobs out of 187,000. Two-thirds of the country’s miners, led by the National Union of Mineworkers, downed tools in protest. This largely working class anger towards the Thatcher government even affected the way people dressed in the decade. A rebellious and DIY approach to fashion was seen as a way of defying and making a statement out of little money. Punks were at the forefront of this notion.


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