Abstract
During the First World War the social and cultural orthodoxies of the late-Victorian and Edwardian era came under severe critical attack and by 1919 there was widespread demand for fundamental social change through post-war social reconstruction. When the government established a Ministry for Reconstruction in 1917, it was emphasized that this was not a rebuilding of society as it had existed, but of moulding a better world from the social and economic conditions that had come into being during the War. The demands of reconstruction embraced several long-standing concerns of social policy, notably housing and health, and it is instructive to recall George Orwell’s description of the War as a heightened moment in an almost continuous crisis. This was particularly true in terms of leisure and voluntary action, in which its effect was to re-energize interest and debate in the meanings of leisure and social work initiated by social philosophers before the War. That there was a need for social renewal was not contested; the question was what type of society should be aimed for. Many critics believed more than an adjustment of the social and cultural values of pre-war society was necessary; as ‘Demos’ expressed it, reconstruction presented an unparalleled opportunity to overhaul national life in accordance with the ideals of a new age. There was a consensual view that the new society should be more democratic and less unequal than pre-war society and many reformers broadly shared the Labour Party’s vision of a new social order of fraternity, co-operation, equality and democratic participation in political power.