AQA_2024: A-level History - Component 2S The Making of Modern Britain: 1951–2007 (Merged Question Paper and Marking Scheme)

AQA_2024: A-level History - Component 2S The Making of Modern Britain: 1951–2007 (Merged Question Paper and Marking Scheme) A-level HISTORY Component 2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007 Friday 7 June 2024 Materials For this paper you must have:  an AQA 16-page answer book. Instructions Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes  Use black ink or black ball-point pen.  Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7042/2S.  Answer three questions. In Section A answer Question 01. In Section B answer two questions. Information  The marks for questions are shown in brackets.  The maximum mark for this paper is 80.  You will be marked on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. Advice  You are advised to spend about: – 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A – 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B. IB/M/Jun24/G4006/E3 7042/2S A-Level History: Component 2S - The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007 Exam Summary This component explores the political, social, and economic transformation of Britain from 1951 to 2007. Key themes include:  Post-War Britain (1951–1964): Examining the challenges faced by Britain in the aftermath of WWII, including the decline of the British Empire, the establishment of the welfare state, and changes in government under leaders like Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan.  Social and Economic Change: Analysis of Britain’s economic struggles in the 1960s and 1970s, including issues like inflation, unemployment, and industrial unrest, alongside social changes such as the rise of the youth counterculture and the growing influence of feminism.  Political Shifts and Ideologies: The rise of new political dynamics, including the Conservative dominance under Margaret Thatcher from 1979 onwards, the shift towards neoliberal economic policies, and the impact of her policies on Britain’s economy and society.  Impact of Thatcherism (1979–1997): In-depth study of Margaret Thatcher’s leadership, the privatization of state-owned industries, the weakening of trade unions, and the contentious relationship with the European Union.  New Labour and the Blair Years (1997–2007): Focus on Tony Blair's transformation of the Labour Party, the shift towards a more centrist approach, the impact of devolution in Scotland and Wales, and Britain’s involvement in international conflicts like the Iraq War. This exam assesses the ability to evaluate political and social developments, key figures, and their lasting effects on the Britain we know today. 2 IB/M/Jun24/7042/2S Section A Answer Question 01. Source A From a major televised debate on the state of the Labour Party by the moderate MP, Stephen Haseler, March 1980. Haseler was expelled from Labour and joined the SDP, 1981. I joined the Labour party, the party of Attlee and Gaitskell, over 21 years ago, seeing it as a vehicle for achieving social progress for working people. Now that party is changing fundamentally. It is being taken over, unrecognisable with its past. We on the right of the party have warned of this development for years. The moderates in the party are increasingly intimidated by the extremist infiltrators. What to do about it? What is the position of people who stand in the moderate tradition of social democracy? Some, understandably, will fight on within the party but I believe that once the Left has completed its takeover of the party our nation is finished. We’re doomed forever to a struggle to the death between a Marxist-based party on the one hand and a party of the privileged on the other. I believe the country is yearning for some escape from the two extremes, for the birth of a new radical centre social democratic force to bring hope and national unity. 5 10 Source B From ‘The Downing Street Years’, an autobiography by Margaret Thatcher, 1993. Thatcher is commenting on the state of the political opposition at the time of the 1983 UK general election. The opposition itself was divided between Labour and the new SDP, which claimed to have truly broken the mould of British two-party politics. But we were the mould breakers. I always felt that the leaders of the SDP would have done better to stay in the Labour Party and drive out the Far Left. SDP support had peaked by 1983. As for Labour, it had continued its unstoppable leftward shift. Michael Foot is a highly principled and cultivated man, and was invariably courteous in our dealings. In debate and on the platform he has a kind of genius. But the policies he adopted were not only catastrophically unsuitable for Britain, they also provided an umbrella beneath which sinister revolutionaries, intent on destroying the institutions of the state and the values of society, were able to shelter. The more the public learned of Labour’s policies and personnel the less they liked them. There was no doubt that in the extreme form adopted under Michael Foot’s leadership Labour was easier to beat. 5 10 3 Source C From reminiscences given in an interview for a book on Militant Tendency by Mike Hogan in Liverpool, 2012. Hogan was a left-wing Labour activist in the early 1980s. Growing up on a working-class estate in Liverpool, I was already aware of the class struggle. So many workers were being thrown out of work at that time, it felt like everything was collapsing around you. I started going to Young Socialist meetings and got recruited into Militant Tendency. Militant was proper Labour. It was all about believing the working class can run things. It seemed to me for the first time in my short life that there was hope. That’s where I was coming from. I was at the huge demo outside Liverpool Town Hall in March 1984 against Thatcher’s rate-capping. About 50 000 people packed the city centre. I spoke from the top of the Town Hall steps about youth unemployment and how the council was prepared to fight and do something about government cuts. To be honest with you, we had a kind of arrogance, a sure belief we knew what needed to be done. But we were betrayed by the leadership of the Labour movement. 5 10 0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the problems of the Labour Party in the 1980s. [30 marks] Turn over for Section B IB/M/Jun24/7042/2S Turn over ► 4 IB/M/Jun24/7042/2S Section B Answer two questions. 0 2 To what extent were the lives of British people transformed by Conservative governments in the years 1951 to 1957? [25 marks] 0 3 ‘Britain’s international position grew stronger in the years 1970 to 1974.’ Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks] 0 4 How significant were sleaze and scandals in weakening John Major’s government in the years 1992 to 1997? [25 marks] END OF QUESTIONS Copyright information For confidentiality purposes, all acknowledgements of third-party copyright material are published in a separate booklet. This booklet is published after each live examination series and is available for free download from Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright-holders may have been unsuccessful and AQA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements. If you have any queries please contact the Copyright Team. Copyright © 2024 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. A-level HISTORY 7042/2S Component 2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007 Mark scheme June 2024 Version: 1.0 Final MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL HISTORY – 7042/2S – JUNE 2024 Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation events which all associates participate in and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation process ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every associate understands and applies it in the same correct way. As preparation for standardisation each associate analyses a number of students’ scripts. Alternative answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed and legislated for. If, after the standardisation process, associates encounter unusual answers which have not been raised they are required to refer these to the Lead Examiner. It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination paper. No student should be disadvantaged on the basis of their gender identity and/or how they refer to the gender identity of others in their exam responses. A consistent use of ‘they/them’ as a singular and pronouns beyond ‘she/her’ or ‘he/him’ will be credited in exam responses in line with existing mark scheme criteria. Further copies of this mark scheme are available from Copyright information AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre. Copyright © 2024 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 2 MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL HISTORY – 7042/2S – JUNE 2024 Level of response marking instructions Level of response mark schemes are broken down into levels, each of which has a descriptor. The descriptor for the level shows the average performance for the level. There are marks in each level. Before you apply the mark scheme to a student’s answer read through the answer and annotate it (as instructed) to show the qualities that are being looked for. You can then apply the mark scheme. Step 1 Determine a level Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the descriptor for that level. The descriptor for the level indicates the different qualities that might be seen in the student’s answer for that level. If it meets the lowest level then go to the next one and decide if it meets this level, and so on, until you have a match between the level descriptor and the answer. With practice and familiarity, you will find that for better answers you will be able to quickly skip through the lower levels of the mark scheme. When assigning a level, you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holes in small and specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as the rest. If the answer covers different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best fit approach for defining the level and then use the variability of the response to help decide the mark within the level, ie if the response is predominantly Level 3 with a small amount of Level 4 material it would be placed in Level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of the level because of the Level 4 content. Step 2 Determine a mark Once you have assigned a level you need to decide on the mark. The descriptors on how to allocate marks can help with this. The exemplar materials used during standardisation will help. There will be an answer in the standardising materials which will correspond with each level of the mark scheme. This answer will have been awarded a mark by the Lead Examiner. You can compare the student’s answer with the example to determine if it is the same sta