The Meanings of Home in Postwar Britain

Abstract

This article explores the meanings of ‘home’ in postwar Britain: how was home situated in public discourse and what was the relationship between public perception, individual desire and material reality? It considers the extent to which the British home was re-made in these years asking whether domesticity 1950s-style was distinct from previous models and exploring the degree of penetration achieved by a home-centred model. The article draws upon life history sources and social survey materials that allow access to subjective understandings of ‘home’. In particular, it employs evidence collected by the pioneering British social investigative organization, Mass-Observation, to explore both historically-sited meanings of home and recently-solicited memories of the postwar period.