ABSTRACT
If the essential theme of the 1930s had been selectivity, that of the 1940s was universalism. That specious universalism, which in 1931 had required the unemployed to share in the national sacrifice by a 10% cut in income, did not hide the fact that society and social policy were riddled with arbitrary distinctions and selective treatment. Accidents of classification vitally affected the nature and scope of the services available. The Second World War did generate the political and social determination to overcome enormous difficulties, and in its wake, the spirit and practice of universalism affected the course of social policy. The war years, which thus transformed social attitudes and social expectations, also witnessed important developments in social policy itself, especially in the crisis years of 1940–1, further evidence that this war was not to be fought on battlefields alone.
