Observations on British attitudes
It's good, once a year, to have our prejudices confounded. Who'd have thought, for example, that two-thirds of young public-sector employees (the carelessly cruel bureaucrats of so many news stories and TV soaps) are motivated by the belief that their job is useful? Or that eight in ten of us now accept that car use has a serious effect on climate? The annual British Social Attitudes report not only surprises, it also cheers, revealing that, over time, we are becoming more tolerant (in 1987 three-quarters of us thought that homosexuality was wrong; that's now down to a third). Here's a glimpse of how we think in 2008:
90% think that donor insemination should be allowed for an infertile couple
76% think the gap between high and low incomes is too wide
70% think there is nothing wrong with sex before marriage
68% of women say they usually or always do the cleaning
54% think that unemployment benefits are too high
50% read a morning newspaper three times or more a week
45% are willing and able to reduce their car use
32% think that homosexuality is wrong
23% have boycotted goods for ethical reasons
27% believe that poverty is due to laziness
36% think that equal opportunity measures have gone too far
"British Social Attitudes: the 24th Report" 2007/2008 is published by Sage for the National Centre for Social Research (£50)
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