Permission and Regulation

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.

Tim Newburn is Professor of Criminology and Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he has been based since 2002. He served as Head of the Department of Social Policy from 2010 to 2013 and as Director of the Mannheim Centre for Criminology from 2003 to 2009. Before joining LSE, he held the position of Joseph Rowntree Professor of Urban Social Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, and served as Director of the Public Policy Research Unit from 1997 to 2002. His research expertise encompasses a wide range of areas, including policing, restorative justice, youth justice, drugs and alcohol policy, comparative policy making, and urban violence.

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