In Your Own Words Summarise How Hobsbawm (2003) and Sandbrook (2005) Chart Rising Working Class Affluence During Post War Golden Age?

In your own words summarise how Hobsbawm (2003) and Sandbrook (2005) chart rising working class affluence during Post War Golden Age?

There are many reasons why there was a rise in the affluence of the working class which Hobsbawm and Sandbrook both agree on, such as education and increase in employment through out the nation. There seems to be no single event or trend, which explains directly the rise in affluence, but by taking a holistic view of everything that occurred at the time helps us to understand how and why a rise was accomplished.

Education took centre stage when it comes to the rise in affluence of the working class. After the war � Occupations which required secondary and higher education’ (Hobsbawm. Pp.295), where rising considerably. If a family had the chance and the choice of sending all or even just a single child into further education then they would do so without a second thought. This was because now the working class saw that if a member of the family had a greater education they not only the chance of earning a higher wage and having a greater more job security, they also had the chance of changing their social status. This put a higher value on education then ever before. This is internationally evident as France, Germany and Britain where considered to be the great powers before the world war they but all three still only contained 150,000 university student between them. By 1980 this had all changed with the figure moving into the millions. This was because families