Anne Summers reports on the results of the 28th British Social Attitudes Survey.
Anne Summers is the communications manager for NatCen Social Research
The 28th British Social Attitudes report publishes today. The report arrives at a difficult time: increased economic gloom, and in the wake of the public’s faith in a number of pillars of the establishment stretched to breaking point.
What effect has this had on the British psyche? NatCen Social Research’s interviewers have spent an hour in the homes of more than 3,000 people to find out.
There are glimpses of some important shifts. Overall, there are signs that British society is looking increasingly inward: we’re becoming a bit more individualistic, and less likely to look to see government as the solution to society’s problems’. If we’re right about this trend, there is a risk of increasing polarisation between the haves and have-nots over time.
People continue to think the gap between rich and poor is too wide, but they are not up for redistributing wealth as a result.
Many continue to believe that unemployment benefits are too high, and that they discourage people from finding work. And in a new module on child poverty, while we see real concern, people also believe that more than anything, the root cause of child poverty is poor parenting. So some tough attitudes on display.
This theme combines with evidence that self-reliance doesn’t equate to a sense of common interest.
In another new module, we see that pretty much everyone accepts the need to build more homes. But almost half are resistant to new homes in their own area: particularly in the South East (where need is greatest), and particularly among those who already own their own homes.
We’re also seeing less willingness to make financial sacrifices to safeguard the environment through higher prices or taxation. And in an interesting shift, people are less opposed to the better-off paying for health care. (Although we have not seen this shift in Scotland).
In tough times, society could do with more belief in its leaders; but in practice we see democracy under continued pressure.
This is particularly evident among the young, less well off, and among ethnic minorities. We’re seeing a long term decline in the belief in the duty to vote; fewer than one half of younger people voted in the last election; and the television debates only really appealed to people already interested in politics.
Why should we care? Because we may see society polarised and weakened as some prove much better equipped at self reliance and self interest than others.
If the government is hoping for the big society to solve problems, then we’re only half way there. Self reliance is part of the story: but a strong society requires people to look outwards too. And it requires people to believe in its leaders.
See also:
• Immigration policy should support UK economic growth, not undermine it – Ruth Grove-White, December 5th 2011
• Borrowing more to borrow less may not be political suicide – Leo Barasi, December 5th 2011
• Look Left – Workers prepare to fight slasher Osborne – Shamik Das, November 25th 2011
• Message to Cameron: Talk to us, not TV news – Sally Hunt, November 25th 2011
• New survey shows public more willing to take action over pensions – Neil Foster, November 21st 2011
32 Responses to “Economic gloom is killing Britons’ sense of common interest”
Anonymous
I haven’t proposed trickle down. ie. The rich will spend and the poor get employed in the process getting the crumbs.
No, the poor get to keep all of their earnings, but they have to save. Others have to save, middle class included. That provides the investment funds for growth. Curtail low skilled migration, and the unemployed get jobs.
So are you sucking at the teat of the public sector? Is it your pension that they have spent and now there is no cash there, you’re pissed off?
Newsbot9
Of course you’re talking about trickle down.
It’s not POSSIBLE for the poor to save in a time of massively rising inflation and massively sub-inflation interest rates.
And right, isolate the UK so our GDP take a minimum of a 40% hit so the starting base is far lower.
And I said PRIVATE sector, which you’re ignoring for ideological reasons of course.
My entire work for the public sector was working for the census last year. Which, I assure you, came with no pension and paid below the living wage.
And of course you support turning public pensions into scams, as part of your general assualt on ANY kind of pension as evil.
Nick Leaton
Partly correct on the inflation front. Now who is responsible for that? Ah yes government with low interest rates. Higher rates would cut off inflation, and make saving more worth while.
It’s still comes back to the working poor’s major expense. That is taxation. From NI, to Income tax to VAT, to stealth taxes such as charges for x y and z.
So look at your wage last year, I presume its around min wage Look at the tax you were forced to pay.
I’m in favour of funded pensions, because funded pensions come with assets, plus compound interest.
21K a year for a median wage earner from the FTSE, or 5K from the state. Which is the better deal?
You could afford for the FTSE to drop to less than25% of its current value and still be better off.
Remember the little letter left by Labour. “There is no money. We have spent it”
Newsbot9
The bank of England set interest rates, not the government, do try and catch up with current events.
And no, the major cost for poorer people is *housing*.
I’ve earned a lot LESS than the minimum wage. Sitting on my ass on benefits would have earned me more!
5k from the state, because it would be *paid*. I’m owed in the region of 250k by half a dozen private companies I’ll never see.
Moreover, that “21k” gets thrown into an annuity and gets you 2k at best.
(I have several sub-2k “pensions” which will earn me all of £10/year each)
Moreover, if you can’t take a joke… (I’m also a left winger, not a Labourite, AGAIN)
Mr Roshan
Retarded, but predictable political thinking from the left. It is very simple: if you are against, say, government run healthcare – it does not mean you are against healthcare – it just means you realise that government is not the best provider of it. Unfortunately, in Britain, too many see government like a heroin addict sees heroin (ironically also available from the government). Also being against government forced wealth redistribution is hardly selfish, as well as it having done very little to ‘close the income gap’.
The problem on the left (and I view the Liberal Tories as left of centre too) is that they have become hijacked by the Notting Hill trendies type crowd at the expense of the true working class. If it had more input by the actual working class, rather than focusing on the egalitarian ‘ideal’ of banning private schools, they would want selection returning to schools, they would not want an expansion of toilet paper factory universities, they would not want unlimited migration from the EU that all the statistics show are killing the working classes, they too would say the welfare system is way too generous (also killing the working class).
I mean, look at this, ‘signs that British society is looking increasingly inward: we’re becoming a bit more individualistic, and less likely to look to see government as the solution to society’s problems’.
This is the tripe that annoys me so much about the left-wing ‘elite’ types (i.e. the faux ‘working class’, people like Owen Jones, Sunny Hundal etc.) who do not understand what ‘selfish’ means. Furthermore, they just don’t get several documented facts, e.g., there are no cuts, welfare spending is at record highs (more than income tax revenue which is insane), the NHS is documented rubbish, the NHS is not being cut, the NHS is not being privatised, migrants took over 75% of new jobs created over the past 12 years etc etc.