Social attitudes of young people

HM Government published a report on the social attitudes of young people to assess if and how social attitudes of young people in the UK today differ from previous generations, and how they might evolve in the future.

Findings include that:

• A key theme running through the social attitudes of young people is the importance of personal autonomy. Young people attach as much value to the welfare of others as older generations;
• There has been a gradual shift in society towards increasingly liberal social attitudes towards ethnicity, gender roles and sexuality. Younger generations are more ethnically diverse than older generations and increasingly mix regularly with people from other ethnic backgrounds;
• Having good friends, health, being independent and having good partnerships are the most important things for under 25s and older groups;
• Young people on average have higher levels of optimism than older people about their own futures but have broadly pessimistic views about the future of society;
• Participation in mainstream politics is far lower amongst today’s young people than for previous generations but trust in traditional institutions and authority figures does not vary significantly between generations; and
• There is little evidence of a culture of low aspirations amongst young people.

To download the full report visit www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-attitudes-of-young-people.