A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
V FOOD RATIONING (i)
New Series Regional G.2
An Inquiry made by the Wartime Social Survey for the Ministry of Food.
Interviewing was carried out during the period 9th to 26th June, 1942.
A general sample of the whole population, consisting of 2047 persons, was interviewed.
The purpose of the inquiry, was to discover public attitudes towards food rationing and the extent to which it was approved of and disapproved of by different groups of the population.
Informants were selected in representative proportions from the different Occupational, regional, sex and age groups.
Summary
53.8 % approved of the idea
26.7% made no criticism ,
14.4 % were dissatisfied.
Women were rather more favourable than men.
The South showed the highest proportion favourable and Scotland the lowest. Manual workers were less favourable than other workers.
“What do you think about Food Rationing?
Interviewers were instructed to record the actual words of the informant and to ask the question in exactly the words given above.
It was found that the replies received could be classified in two ways:- (l) Replies referring to the general idea of rationing, whether it was a good method of distribution or not, and (2) Replies which showed the effect of rationing on the Informant personally, and whether or not he or she was satisfied with the rations allowed. Some gave answers from both points of view.
The types of reply listed in the table below cover both these attitudes and show the quality of the approval or disapproval, and also the extent to which informants were personally satisfied with their rations.
It will be seen that over half the sample approved of rationing as method of distribution, and a further 26.7% had no criticisms to make.
Of the 14.4% who were not satisfied, the majority said simply that they did not get enough and only a small proportion criticised the method as being unfair.
There are some differences between answers received from men and women.
Women tend to be more favourable to rationing, and there is a higher proportion of men in the “Dissatisfied” group.
Analysis by age group gives the following result:-
There is a slight tendency for the older people be less satisfied than younger. The youngest age group has a relatively high proportion answering “Don't know”. Approval is highest in the 31 to 45 age group.
There are some differences as between Urban and Rural districts.
The people living in rural districts tend to be more approving and less critical than those living in urban districts.
There are very marked differences of attitude in different regions.
The southern region has a very high proportion approving, and lower proportions in the “No Criticism” and “Dissatisfied” groups.
Scotland is rather less favourable to the idea of rationing than other regions, but a higher proportion here give no opinion of rationing as a system, expressing only their personal satisfaction with the rations allowed. London also has a high proportion in this “No Criticism” group.
The North of England has the highest proportion dissatisfied.
The Southern region has a higher proportion showing positive approval than other regions, the proportion showing merely acceptance (the “No Criticism” group) being smaller.
Scotland shows the reverse of this, a rather low proportion giving positive approval and a much higher proportion accepting rationing and saying they are satisfied. London, too, has a rather high proportion in the “No Criticism” group.
Dissatisfaction is highest in the North England and lowest in the Southern region, where attitudes are on the whole very much more favourable than anywhere else.
Breakdown by occupational groups gives the following results, which show the most striking differences.
*This group includes Agricultural workers, Building and road workers, Miners and Transport workers. The groups are too small to give separate percentage for each. Actual numbers were as follows:-
It will be seen that workers in heavy industry and those doing outdoor and other heavy work have a less favourable attitude towards rationing than those in other groups.
On the other hand, clerical and distributive workers and those in the professional and managerial group are very much more favourable
A higher proportion of those doing heavy work are dissatisfied with the rations they are getting. The proportion in these groups that thinks rationing is not fair is also higher than in other groups, though it amounts to less than a third of those who are dissatisfied.
Workers in light industry have a rather low proportion showing positive approval, a higher proportion in this group accepting rationing without criticism.
Housewives have a fairly high proportion showing positive approval and a low proportion dissatisfied, but it should be noted that 10%, whilst approving of the idea of rationing, feel that the rations are small, and a further 10.7%, whilst not making criticism, say they can just manage. This amounts to 20.7% of housewives interviewed as against 15.4% having these attitudes in the whole sample.
In considering the above figures for Heavy Industry (factories and shipyards) and for the retired and unoccupied group, it should be noted that the sample is small, and the stated margin of error should be taken into account.