Introduction

After the psychological trauma and family separation of the Second World War, Britain underwent an emotional revolution. Psychologists and social reformers focused more than ever before on the vital importance of loving and intimate family relationships. And as Teri Chettiar tells Ellie Cawthorne, intimacy wasn’t just intended to improve life at home, but also forge a new generation of productive, well-adjusted citizens.

(Ad) Teri Chettiar is the author of The Intimate State: How Emotional Life Became Political in Welfare-State Britain (Oxford University Press, 2023)

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed.

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