A-level HISTORY Component 1G Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964

A-level HISTORY Component 1G Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964 Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes Materials For this paper you must have: • an AQA 16-page answer book. Instructions • Use black ink or black ball-point pen. • Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7042/1G. • 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. 2 IB/M/Jun21/7042/1G Section A Answer Question 01. Extract A It can appear that self-help and laissez-faire were key principles in Victorian society and government. However, difficulty in maintaining this view emerges when it is considered that industrialisation was transforming society and, as a result, the government was constantly being forced into action as another social issue came to the fore. The philosophical acceptance of laissez-faire was popularised by the famous work entitled, ‘Self-Help’, published by Samuel Smiles in 1859. Its opening passage makes the message very clear: ‘Heaven helps those who help themselves. The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual’. It would seem, then, that self-help and the rejection of state interference were widely accepted principles. Indeed, before 1870 the scope of government intervention was still limited. After 1870, however, the central direction of social assistance by the government was seen as more and more necessary as awareness of social problems increased. So, however desirable government noninterference was in theory; in practice, state intervention became increasingly inevitable. Adapted from E Hopkins, Industrialisation and Society, 2000