Austerity in Britain Rationing, Controls, and Consumption, 1939-1955

Austerity in Britain is the first book to explore the entire episode of rationing, austerity, and fair shares from 1939 until 1955. These policies were central to the British war effort and to post-war reconstruction. The book analyzes the connections between government policy, consumption, gender, and party politics during and after the Second World War. It qualifies the myth of common sacrifice on the home front and highlights the limitations of the fairshares policy which failed to achieve genuine equality between classes or between men and women. The continuation of rationing and austerity policies after 1945 was central to party politics. Disaffection, particularly among women, undermined Labour's popularity while the Conservatives' critique of austerity was instrumental to the party's victories at the general elections of 1951 and 1955.

Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska is Lecturer in Modern British Social and Economic History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.