preview

The Impact Of Margaret Thatcher's Social And Economic Policies

Better Essays
Source A could be considered to have great value to a historian studying the impact of Margaret Thatcher’s Social and Economic policies, as it comes from a speech that Margaret Thatcher made herself 5 years into her premiership. This lends the source some value, as it comes from Thatcher’s own point of view, and therefore could be considered to be very valuable to a historian studying the impact of Thatcher’s policies as no one would know more about how she arrived at her decisions and what her intentions were than Thatcher herself. It could however be argued that the fact this source comes from Thatcher herself is in fact a detriment to its value, as she will be more likely to defend herself and her actions rather than speaking honestly about…show more content…
Therefore, this source could be considered valuable as it gives us an insight into the criticisms that Thatcher’s social and economic policies were facing at the time, as this source focuses on the downsides of Thatcher’s policies, for example “For seven months of this year, all of the following- the erosion of civil rights; the withdrawal of welfare support; the cutbacks and closures; unemployment and civil disorder-have been brought together in a great turmoil of the miners dispute”. This is known to be true as Thatcher’s treatment of mine-workers, in particular her threats to close them down and her referring to them as ‘the enemy within’, were the main reasons for the strike action of 1984 This could also be considered a negative point as, with its focus on the downsides of Thatcher’s economic and social policies, it is unlikely to give a balanced view. It still, however, could be considered to be valuable to a historian when combined with Thatcher’s speech in source A, as this would allow a fairly balanced argument to be created. This source could also be considered valuable as it mentions the effects that Thatcher’s social and economic policies would have had on ordinary people at the time, as the line “Communities in the coalfields, like those in my constituency in…show more content…
However, this source could also be considered of little value as it is unlikely Margaret Thatcher would criticise herself, there is very little mention of the impact her policies have had, and the speech coming from 1984 means that there is very little scope for any information about the long-term impact of her policies to make it into the source. Source B has a similar set of advantages and disadvantages to a historian studying the impact of Thatcher’s social and economic problems, as, while it does focus on the effects that her policies had at the time, it still was not created at a time when it could offer insight at the long term impacts of her policies, comes from a speech from an opposition party leader, and so is therefore likely to focus on the negatives, and again contains very little statistical evidence to support its
Get Access