A decline of values
One website participant suggested: “in the world we’ve created, there’s no such thing as ‘right and wrong’ any more“.
Participants felt that we lack a set of shared values which guide people’s behaviour and interactions. This was strongly associated with individualism, selfishness and consumerism: people were described as pursuing their own desires regardless of potential harm to others.
The consultation also identified other virtues that participants believed informed people’s behaviour more in the past. A decline of honesty, tolerance, empathy and compassion, respect and reciprocity were seen to have damaging consequences for society.
People felt that this decline of values has occurred not only at the individual level: the media, business institutions and the government were criticised for being dishonest and self-serving.
Participants often associated this issue with a decline of religion and the loss of Christianity as a foundation for ethical behaviour in Britain, although other participants identified religion itself as a social evil, that causes confusion and conflict.
Some comments from the consultation
“People not respecting each other. I don’t just mean young people having no respect for older people, it works the other way as well – some older people tar youngsters with the ‘nasty’ and ‘ill-mannered’ brush when they do the same. It pervades all parts of society.”
“Some people just don’t seem to understand that other people are thinking, feeling humans; they really seem to lack empathy, and it’s quite frightening.”
“The lack of real care and compassion and solutions for those who fall through the safety net, young people in care, drug abusers, older people in poverty, homeless, etc.”
on April 20th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Values don’t go away or die, good or bad, they are still around. I am fortunate in knowing quite a few people who espouse many sound ones. And herein lies the rub: not enough people make sound values their own. Look for the causes to where most people learn most these days: the TV, the Sun, PC Games,advertising,etc. Yikes !!!
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 20th, 2008 at 10:08 am
There definitetly is a huge shift in peoples attitudes towards others in society.People just do not have the time nor inclination to worry about others outside their immediate families.In a way you can not blame them as this has been the norm for a very long time.Unfortunately people in general see this as an acceptable practice as we are told from a very young age that the family is the only thing that matters and if it means stepping on other toes to protect or gain for your own,so be it.Boundaries have changed so much that communities are no longer as important as they once were,people disregard others to selfishly get for their own.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Values are so important if countries and communities are to survive. It is neccessary that from an early age the young are brought up to respect both each other and people of other ages including the elderly and others of different cultures and religions in their communities. It is also vital that older people should in their turn respect the young. At the moment there is a massive imbalance where neither side respects the other, or for that matter the communities in which they live, as can be seen from the increase in violent crime, drugs and excesive drinking. The only way forward is for society to stop and look at the way they are heading, for if they don’t they will continue to sow the seeds of their own destruction. We are pretty well down this road already and it will not take much for us to go over the edge!.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 20th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
To be honest I think we could take a leaf out of the Arabs book,
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.and I don’t mean cutting hands and heads off and neither sharia law. My brother in law and sister in law moved to Bahrain a couple of years ago to work. Their view at the time of moving there was that that the way of the Arabs was daft and too controlled. Their view now after a few years in Bahrain and the odd business trip into other Arab countries is that they have a certain amount of respect for the way they are and that society in general has better values than that of the UK.
Unfortunately the TV soaps are the key to cracking the problem here.If you step back and study them, the story line loops and loops and loops over the years. Why cant a new story line slowly be introduced into all of them like on the lines of manners and values etc. and not short lived ones, long term story lines in the back ground.
I was taught a kind of eye opening lesson from an old Indian man. There aren’t many human beings left on this earth in reality. “Human” is showing kindness and compassion to others, so really there aren’t many “human being” just “beings”
Thank You
on April 20th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
There has been a decline in responsibilty, respect, motivation and pride; an increasing dependency on the state and encouragement to believe that you can have it all without hard work, sacrifice or consideration for your fellow man.
And if you can’t achieve it, you can steal it or attack those for having it without consequence.
A start would be to abolish the Human Rights Act, as this is the new bible on which to hang everything, deport foreign prisoners, close the borders and reverse the trend of having millions of people living off the state.
Tax breaks for those who voluntarily endeavour to get to know their communities and improve them, and to give them some perspective on their materialistic, selfish and insular life.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
The fascinating thing about the Rowntree survey is that, as far as I can see, a decline in values is a common and widespread diagnosis - among old and young alike. Moreover, it doesn’t seem to mean ‘we need to return to the old days/ways’ necessarily. Rather what I think people mean by a ‘decline in values’ is that cultural and social relativism and some of its associated elements (multiculturalism, artistic relativism and so on) have brought no benefits - save to a few post-modern social theorists for whom justifying it all has been an industry in itself.
Two remarkable things about Britons are their instinctive social empiricism (if it looks like a failed social order, and produces outcomes like a failed social order it is, indupitably, a failed social order) and their pragmatism (solutions do not arise from grand theory). I like to think that both shape these observations in the Rowntree report.
So let me offer two possible solutions in the spirit of both empiricism and pragmatism:
(i) let’s develop a core set of shared values and embed them throughout our education system. These ought to be commonly understood in order to be viable (that violence is never to be tolerated, and not excused, but always punished; that endeavour and commitment are to be rewarded over and above disengagement and laziness; that rhetoric is a substitute for values…) and demonstrated in the very fabric of learning throughout life. So no extra marks for ‘having a bad day’; no counselling for bullies; no equal status or reward for the working and the workshy).
(ii) let’s put in place systems of checks and balances in our political systems such that politicians can no longer play fast and loose with the incentives and laws that shape our interaction with those values to suit their own purposes.
Mark
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 20th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Sorry - what I meant (above) was of course “that rhetoric is NOT a substitute for values…”.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 20th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
In my experience, the people I’ve known to have the most developed social values are Palestinians and Tibetans. Interestingly, in the case of Palestinians and their attitudes toward Israelis, there is generally a noticeable difference between those who have met and grown up with Israelis (usually older people) from those who have not met them (except soldiers), who rely more on stereotypes - the former think more benignly toward Israelis. Unfortunately the latter group is growing, particularly because of the ’separation wall’. In comparing with Britain, our own group memory refers back to ‘WW2 Spirit’ - and this is what Palestinians and Tibetans (probably other ethnic groups too) experience a variant of. It’s based on the premise that “we’re all in this together”.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 21st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I once had an argument with an ‘education professional’ after she told me about the new “Every Child Matters” legislation. I said that if every child mattered then there would be equality of opportunity in education - from primary schools to Universities.
Council estates are rapidly becoming the slums they were originally designed to replace.
The sense of belonging only now exists among the middle classes who cluster around the good state schools and occasionally show their face in Church if it will get their child a place in a faith school.
Asians seem to be the only group of people who still value family.
Things will only start to change when the state buts out and lets children be children and adults take responsibility.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 21st, 2008 at 12:53 pm
How would you fix it though? We need the values, but a traditional form which is to attach them to religion brings its disadvantages. Is religion worth the cost when it does go wrong?
I believe that values stand independently of god(s). I have my way of understanding them with some history in my own faith background, but I note that the same fundamental ideas crop up all over the place just expressed in different ways.
Some religious groups teach things to the effect that your value, whether you are a good person or not, depends on which god you worship if any at all. Energy is expended trying to make others worship the same one. We can see questioning of dogma strongly discouraged, even in situations where question that dogma may aid society.
Community projects may duplicate effort or prevent people volunteering because the dominant group wishes to use the good works as a platform for evangelism or different groups won’t work together. This is not across the board and there are some good counter examples, but it exists. I believe the counter examples are looking beyond their dogma.
While it can give cohesion if we all believe the same thing, I don’t see that as likely to happen. History has also shown us that it has not produced a society immune to evils. We place responsibility for our future in the hands of the leaders of the religion and hope (believe even) that they satisfy the ideals of selflessness and in the end act as benevolent dictators.
In the real world, alongside the loving of neighbours and community actions we have separatist beliefs from some people who cling so strongly to dogma they seem to fail to realise the positive side of their religion.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 22nd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
The lack of values, which includes respect, is now affecting at least the 2nd generation if not the 3rd. It is clear that things cannot be changed overnight. However, we must start now before things get even worse. Parents must take responsibility for their children and by children I certainly mean all those of 16 years and under. If children do wrong and show no remorse or sign of change, parents must be punished. If this affects other members of the family perhaps they will then play a part in helping those that need help. parenting courses and the like can help, but only if parents attend. In a local secondary school with over 1,000 pupils, less than 20 parents turned up for an important meeting. School is another place where values must be instilled, with parents again held responsible if they are not. A sensible school uniform can help, but if children do not wear it they must be punished - sent home if necessary. Jeans and trainers are not acceptable - it breeds a casual approach to education. They also cost more than things like dark trousers, skirts and sensible shoes. I could go on but leave these suggestions with you.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 23rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
There is no single root cause for all the concerns expressed about present-day British society and therefore no quick and simple way to alleviate them. Technology notwithstanding, what needs changing are the underlying causes and that means a fundamental shift in social awareness.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.You cannot put the breaks on cultures changing as rapidly as those in the West have over the last half century but you can steer it, which is what Britain hasn’t done very well. There is no going back to a Britain of fifty years ago and few would want to, not in its entirety, although values such as courtesy, honesty, self-control, respect for and goodwill towards others that were generally recognized as the correct way to behave would be worth reinstating. Unfortunately, these values were closely associated with a class structure that, rightly, came to be seen as unjust and were discarded in the name of social justice for all, giving licence for the behaviour we see today.
Parents can and do try to instil those values in their children but they run up against the attitudes and examples set by much of the media, their children’s peers and society in general, where aggression, self-aggrandizement and acquisitiveness are presented as normal and where the pursuit of ‘fun’ and ‘self-expression’ is viewed as a right, regardless of it’s effect on others.
What can we do about this? I believe it to be a question of motivation. In the past, it was shame that prevented antisocial and criminal behaviour, people being very aware that they would be looked down on if they transgressed codes of behaviour or the law. Now the ability of adults and even the law to correct bad behaviour has been curtailed almost to the point of non-existence and if bad behaviour brings no meaningful retribution or even opprobrium, it is repeated.
It would be a good start if the law and society in general were able to be less concerned about the rights of people who behave badly and show more concern for the rights of those they harm, either directly or indirectly. Those governing a society that allows young people with multiple convictions for various crimes to go virtually unpunished and able to boast about it while at the same time, criminalizing and imprisoning a pensioner for protesting against a Council Tax bill they cannot afford to pay, can’t expect those they govern to have a great deal of confidence in them or even bother to vote.
(Forgive the use of the ‘z’; it was how I was taught to spell such words in primary school and I find it difficult to recognize them with an ‘s’ in them – I’ve become an anachronism in my own lifetime.)
on April 25th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
A national newspaper publishes pictures of a show bussines “celebrity” rolling out of a pub wildeyed and legless and in a totaly dishevilled state. Two days later that “celebrity” was reported as having made the rich list what sort of example is that for the young and impresionable what does it tell us about current values and the cult of celibrity. The artisic media must carry a lot of the blame for lowering values.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on April 28th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Another aspect of the decline in values that I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet is the loss of the work ethic.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.We witness the complaints from people over the number of Eastern Europeans entering the country and taking ‘our’ jobs, and yet many Brits are not interested in doing work that they regard as being low-paid or menial. Instead they are happy to have the State pay them to sit at home and do nothing, no doubt supplemented by work in the black economy.
A colleague who has a brother-in-law who chooses not to work told him that he is not going to have anybody tell him what to do! (Possibly with the exception of the person who sorts out his benefits payments.)
Sadly, I don’t have any solutions. I have no doubt that work ethic and religion are closely connected and it is no coincidence that they are both in decline. I have a view that religion was ‘invented’, rightly or wrongly, as a way of subjugating the masses. Regrettably, we are now reaping the rewards of a secular society, where the masses appear to have no moral value, but neither do the politicians nor business leaders.
What we need is a humanist society, but this does assume a level of intelect that is way above the majority of people in this country.
on May 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am
JOSEPH ROWNTREE – ERIC BERNE
Joseph Rowntree called upon us all to seek out the fundamental causes of weakness and evil in society.
Eric Berne gave us a succinct view of self-and-others; the tool required to achieve the above aim.
I would assert that (whether evil comes from social incompetence or – if such is your view - from letting the Devil in) its root cause IS weakness; the weakness of the individual.
In Berne’s terms, weakness amounts to an under-developed Adult ego state* in the psyche; a condition I see as pertaining all over the planet. The two terrible truths of society, are: (1) individual weakness is increasing, and (2) the overcompensating-weak, rise to positions of power. Consequently, any corrective effort must reach out directly to the very young as the Powers That Be are, instinctively, fearful of general empowerment.
I have synthesised an approach. It can be found www.barriesingleton.co.uk as outlined in 1995 to Rowntree. Click on “Visionary Stuff”.
Only wisdom empowers; cleverness is inclined to enslave. Development of a strong Adult ego state engenders wisdom and is vital to individual, family, group, state and world stability. Adult strength is the ultimate answer to every weakness and evil.
* Transactional Analysis http://changingminds.org/explanations/behaviors/ta.htm
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on May 6th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I personally have found that younger parents, do not always teach their children manners in the same way that older parents often do. When i was child i had a fantastic pop up book designed to teach me manners, and to bring out the humanity in me. Books like this are now hard to get hold off and i feel this is a great shame, if more material like this was available and as someone else suggested plot lines in soaps depicting this, i think it could go some way into creating role models and bringing back values.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on May 6th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
When wives wages were counted for morgage purposes children were booted to a secondry position in the house.Coming home to a empty house mothers coming home tired and maybe feeling slightly guilty trying to compensate with chicken nuggets and play stations instead of love ,home cooked meals and a sense of belonging.Now of course the combined wages are required to keep the morgage paid.Children look to there friends for leadership and belonging,with no role models parents divorsed sometimes because of morgage problems and teachers unable to remonstrate because of by the book legislation we produce semi literate thugs who terrorise old folks and display a total lack of morals and decency.Because of influences from abroad the relentless loss of British identity puts one in mind of the last years of the Roman Empire god help us because nobody else will.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on May 9th, 2008 at 8:52 am
The key problem is the loss of shared Christian values which used to underpin British society with all that society’s injustices. We live in a society which is host to other significant faiths, namely Islam and Judaism. Judaism has a lot in common with Christianity. Islam has a very different perspective on God and his attributes and commands although there are still some shared values. Atheism and its lazy partner agnosticism have brought this nation and indeed the world not only no good but indeed a lot of evil I Hitler, Nazism, Stalinism, Pol Pot etc. I do not basolve Christians from responsibility for some of the evils we experience but they are not intrinsic in Christianity. Socialism and individualism are the opposite poles of state control and ultimately anarchy. Either there is a God or there is not. Either He has made His will known to us in the Commandments or He has not. Either Jesus was God made man and revealed God’s will more fully or he was a poor mistaken fool. A thing can not be true and false at the same time. I make no apology in saying that unless there is a return to Christian values this country will continue to decline morally and in every other way. While I respect Moslems I do not share many of their beliefs or values or intolerance. There is no quick fix. Talk of working out our own shared scheme of values helps very little - we can easily deceicve ourselves and all have vested interests. Personally I can only hope to give my poor efforts at good example as a Christian and pray for myself and my country. At another level it is very important to have dialogue with those of other faiths.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on May 13th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I don’t think there has been a decline in values. There may have been a “dumbing down” of values by institutions to the level of the lowest common denominator, but individuals maintain the values of decency, equality and “doing to others as you would have others do to you”. I volunteer at at a grassroots level with refugees. I am involved in a lay member trade union. I work in the equalities field. Every day, I hear of individuals who are fighting to maintain their values against the buraucracy that is British society today, but not only maintain but fighting to ensure that the vaules that mean so much have a place in their lives nd those who they work with. The Scottish Parliament signed wholeheartedly to the Convention of Human Rights and all legislation has to be equality proofed against this. On the ground it is the institutions that look for ways of circumventing these values in order to “stop spending the public purse”. Grassroot politics are not going away, they are growing. If there is a serious decline in vlaues, this would not be happening. Therefore I have to disagree that there is a decline of values - at elast in Scotland.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on May 24th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
In a book entitled Learning Cities, Learning regions, Learning Communities the following higher senses (values?) are offered for all children (and adults) to aspire to
sense of ‘other’ - the transcendence of ego that allows individuals to appreciate, and respond to, the existence of other needs, other ideas, other peoples, other cultures,
sense of ‘planet’ - understanding the need for sustainability of the ecosystems that guarantee the future of us all, and humankind’s responsibility as a planetary steward for all species
sense of ‘together’, and its hierarchy of local, national and global community, the enthusiasm to live, work and communicate sensibly and sensitively with people from a wide variety of cultures, creeds, beliefs and races
sense of ‘wondering’ – of envisioning one’s place in the cosmic scheme of things, striving for insight, seeking self-awareness and understanding of ‘higher’
sense of ‘evolving’ – of reaching for enlightenment, achieving fulfilment and realising one’s own enormous potential.
Would that these were included as learning aims in all schools and colleges.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on August 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
It’s depressing to hear the same old arguments and fixed positions people have on the subject of rights and wrongs, and the role of religion in society.
Unfortunately religion has become a subset of politics, which is surely one of the basic insanities of our society, polarising people into mutually exclusive groups each of which glibly declaims its own exclusive rightness. As one of the above commentators notes, none of these ideas can be both completely right and completely wrong at the same time. How nmany recognise the fast that Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all branches of the same basic Semitic faith which have simply divided along cultural rather than ethical and theological lines? How can the adherents of each faith be logically in any basic disagreement, having after all the same god?
What is needed is to educate people into a sense of cooperation and tolerance of the views of others.
I am not a member of a Christian, Islamic or Jewish group, nor a Buddhist, a Taoist or any other of the major traditional religious groups. I do, however respect the views and beliefs of all of these religions and would defend to the last their right to their practices and observances.
What I do know is that religion is not a control mechanism of itself, but evolved as the cement that builds and holds together civilised society. It embodies the concepts of respect and fairness that are the only way to a livable life. We need to ostracise those who would attempt to use this vital strand of society as a control mechanism to serve their own selfish ends, whether it be the Taliban or the Spanish Inquisition.
Unfortunately there is too much emphasis placed upon ritual and form of worship, rather than on the core values which are enshrined in all religious groups of any colour. There should be a move towards teaching the common values which are the only valid reason for any type of religious faith, and less empasis on the mystical and dogmatic elements which have led to all the strife which is falsely attributed to honest people of faith.
This starts in education, of course. Religious discrimination is no less pernicious than any other kind, and should be so regarded in a 21st-century society.
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.on September 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I would love to be with you 24th Sept 08, but I am an 80 year old war pensioner feeling my days. Maybe someone would quote from my case, especially the last letters to Jack Straw and Gordon Brown concerning corrupt public sector complaints procedures. can be seen on: www.psow.co.uk/awtannerpage.html
Abusive? Inappropriate? Report this comment.Thank you AWTanner