Permission and Regulation

Law and Morals in Post-War Britain

Tim Newburn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781041382447
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781042504916
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

First published in 1992, Permission and Regulation examines the period known as "the permissive age": the 1960s. Perhaps more than any other decade in history, the 1960s have generated seemingly imperishable myths. This book seeks to separate myth from reality by focusing on a series of legislative changes commonly held to illustrate the permissive or liberal character of the era. Through central case studies examining the law in relation to abortion, obscenity, homosexuality, and prostitution, the volume casts doubt on the view propounded by politicians and moralists that such changes indicated moral relaxation and increasing sexual license.

This work argues that the ideology of permissiveness requires close examination and analyzes the campaigns of Mary Whitehouse to pinpoint how this ideology was constructed, applied, and challenged. The final chapter compares the permissive era to the moral politics of the Thatcher decade.

Challenging and informative, this book will be of interest to students of social history, sociology, gender studies, and politics.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Permissiveness Accounts, discourses and explanations
• 2 Permissiveness and moral protest Mary Whitehouse and the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association
• 3 The Wolfenden Report and legislative change
• 4 Obscenity and the law The permissive years?
• 5 Obscenity and the law Backlash?
• 6 A woman’s right to choose? Abortion and the law in post-war Britain
• 7 Morality, the law and contemporary social change
• 8 Postscript Thatcherism and the politics of morality
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index