Urbanisation and Changes in Scottish Leisure, Religion and Education

Urbanisation and Changes in Scottish Leisure, Religion and Education

In the 1880s people in Scotland were just as likely to live in a town

or city as they were to live in the countryside. However by 1939 this

had radically changed and most people were now urban dwellers. The

process of urbanisation during this time is thought by many historians

to have "affected the lives of ordinary people in all sorts of ways"

(Sydney Wood). In particular there was notable changes in leisure,

religion and education. In leisure people now had more time for

themselves, and new opportunities became available to them. Religion

became more and more diversified and secularisation became much more

common. Education became seen as a necessity as apposed to optional

and much more importance was put upon it. Though this is all true it

must be looked at in more detail before it is associated solely with

urbanisation.

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Leisure in particular was changed, but in many cases it had only just

begun. Laws restricting working hours and increasing wages (for

example the Shop Assistants Act 1911, and The coal mines (minimum

wages) act 1912) meant that people, particularly men, had time and

money they had never had to do with what they wished. This in itself

was a result of the Liberal Government reforms, not urbanisation.

What men particularly liked to do was go to the pub. 'Rough Culture'

(drinking, gambling etc) became an increasing problem and by 1914 the

average annual consumption of whiskey was around a gallon a head.

There was large resistance to it including the temperance movement who

opened non-alcoholic pubs and the creation of an anti-ice-cream

political group who objected to ice cream parlours which were seen as

places of gambling. These measures helped reduce the problem, as did

the war. The war brought in reduced opening hours and the intake of

whiskey was reduced to only 0.35 gallons per head.

World War One also helped free women from social restrictions on

leisure time and better wages gave them a wider variety of things to