The twentieth century is the first century in which religion was not a dominant force in shaping the law, social attitudes and behaviour. The collapse of religion was not just a collapse of belief, but the collapse of identities shaped by religion. The weakening of hierarchy and deference, the search for new forms of authority, the commercialisation of culture, and the increasingly contractual view of rights and obligations are part of the vast social transformation of Britain in the twentieth century. What has survived is a particularly British vein of moralism, yet one which has been detached from its previously institutional expressions in family duties, sexual and moral codes, good behaviour, politeness and self-restraint.