Our 10 modern evils

A century later, the progressive think-tank which bears his name, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has just completed a huge consultative exercise with the British people who identified the social ills that plague the UK today. Nearly 4000 people were spoken to, including those whose voices are rarely heard: people who have been homeless, unemployed and ex-prisoners. In order to properly reflect British society, the JRF made sure that young people and ethnic minorities were represented.

The media, big business, government and religion were all blamed for helping create, or failing to tackle, society's woes.

1 A DECLINE IN COMMUNITY A weakened sense of community and neighbourliness is seen as the first social evil. Interviewees felt that neighbours no longer looked out for each other or even know each other. This leaves people feeling isolated, lonely and fearful - particularly the elderly or those on their own.

One man quizzed said: "Community spirit has broken down terribly over the last 20 or 30 years. Society has changed. It is a lot more selfish and me, myself and I'."

2 INDIVIDUALISM AND SELFISHNESS British people believe that the decline in our sense of community has gone hand-in-hand with the rise of individualism. Many of the thousands said that people increasingly look after their own interests without considering the needs of society.

One interviewee summed up the problem when they said: "Nothing is more important than my success, comfort and convenience - and that of my family."

3 CONSUMERISM AND GREED One person explained their concerns with the rise of greed' by saying: "Everything seems to be based around money and owning things. The more you have, the more successful you are. There's nothing wrong with having enough, but there's pressure on people to go for more and more."

Greed and society valuing things in terms of money were two of the biggest concerns in the entire study.

4 A DECLINE IN VALUES Interviewees said they felt that British people lacked a shared set of values which help guide behaviour. This failing was linked to growing individualism, selfishness and consumerism. People were described as "pursuing their own desires regardless of the potential harm to others". The decline of old-fashioned' values such as honesty, tolerance, empathy, compassion, respect and reciprocity was identified as having damaging consequences for society. It was felt that the decline in these old-fashioned' values wasn't just at the individual level. The media, business and the government were all criticised for being dishonest and self-serving.

5 THE DECLINE OF THE FAMILY Family breakdown and bad parenting were said to underlie many other social problems, leaving young people without guidance and support. While poor parenting did come in for criticism, others argued that mothers and fathers were "doing their best in difficult circumstances". Many said that young parents should be given help acquiring the skills needed to raise children. Most agreed that a strong, stable family was important for children, but there was a lot of disagreement about the importance of the traditional family structure.

6 THE YOUNG There was disagreement about whether young people were victims or villains. Some blamed the young for anti-social behaviour, binge-drinking, violence and gun and knife crime. One said: "Young people have no manners, no self-control and no respect for anything." Others felt that the young are failed by their families and the school system, as well as being misrepresented. "There is a wealth of potential in young people," another participant said, "they tend to be stigmatised rather than encouraged."

There was concern about the perceived "gulf between the old and the young", and the negative attitudes this encourages between the generations. Young people themselves said they lacked role models and faced limited opportunities.

7 MISUSE OF DRUGS AND ALCOHOL The misuse of drugs and alcohol were seen as very damaging to society, chiefly because of the links to violent crime and anti-social behaviour. Substance abuse was defined as a cause of ill-health, poverty and family breakdown. However, drug and alcohol abuse were also seen as stemming from family breakdown, weak communities, child abuse, domestic violence, poverty, stress, unemployment and lack of opportunity.

8 POVERTY AND INEQUALITY Participants from disadvantaged backgrounds described poverty as a trap' - constraining people's lives and limiting their aspirations. Poverty was also seen as the "keystone to other social problems". One example given was how, in a deprived community, making money from drug dealing can seem an appealing option for young people. It was felt that growing inequality in the UK was socially divisive and morally wrong. One older participant, a carer, said: "If you are poor, you are struggling all the time - you have no choices in life. That's what poverty does to you, it gives you no choice."

9 IMMIGRATION AND RESPONSES TO IMMIGRATION Some interviewees saw immigration itself as a social evil. In their view, immigration lead to more competition for limited resources such as housing and jobs, and Britons lost out. Others highlighted the economic and social advantage that immigration brought to Britain and were critical of intolerant and negative attitudes towards immigrants and others seen as outsiders'.

10 CRIME AND VIOLENCE It was generally felt that Britain is a more dangerous and violent place that it used to be. People expressed anxiety about the perceived prevalence of violence, aggression and crime. Connections were made between drug use, gang culture and crime, with drug use also being seen as connected to prostitution and the sexual exploitation of young girls. Child abuse, and violence towards women were cited as specific crimes seen as absolute wrongs'.

Peter Kelly, the director of the Poverty Alliance, said that although society had changed a great deal in the 100 years since Joseph Rowntree first mapped the social ills of Edwardian Britain, many of the same concerns remain worries today. The problem of poverty was "remarkably persistent", Kelly said, pointing to the high numbers of children living in poverty today as a "condemnation" of UK society. "It is important to draw out that these are not problems of the past," he added.

Like many commentators, Kelly saw the modern 10 social evils as interconnected. A consumerist society makes the experience of poverty in Britain more stark for those at the sharp-end, he said. "Many communities lack a sense of cohesiveness. This was once a strength that those in poverty could draw on in the past," Kelly said. "In the 21st century, poverty makes it difficult for people to participate in society. The nature of poverty today is that it heightens the sense of isolation and exclusion."

Professor Neil McKeganey, director of Glasgow University's Centre for Drug Misuse Research, believes that substance abuse is the key social evil. "The problem of drug and alcohol abuse runs through all the other social evils on the list," he said. "Drugs have eaten away at communities. They are corrosive; a social cancer that slowly breaks down social bonds, creates an increasing sense of unease, helplessness and hopelessness. I spoke to a reverend from Castlemilk a deprived area of Glasgow who told me that the breakdown in his community ran hand in glove with the rise of heroin, which is infinitely more corrosive than alcohol. Drugs lead to crime, secrecy, intimidation and criminality.

"Politicians are terrified of the issue. They fear where it is going and the don't know how to resolve the problem."

Margaret Woods of the Campaign to Welcome Refugees said that she was horrified that some respondents identified immigration itself as a social evil, but heartened that others had listed racism as a blight on society. She spoke of the rise of the British National Party as evidence of an increasingly racist' dimension to British politics. Woods said she found the boost to the fortunes of the extreme right-wing "unsurprising as many people are influenced by the way mainstream politicians and some sections of the press talk about immigration. There is a tremendous amount of emphasis on issues like Islamophobia. Many people see politicians as reasonable folk yet they come out with such appalling, demonising language".

Woods agreed that racism was one of Britain's worst social evils but said she was gladdened by the support for refugees arriving in Scotland from ordinary working-class people. "Many people who don't have great lives themselves see refugees as people they have common cause with. They've all been dumped in the same bad areas," she added.

Woods said that anger against dawn raids' - which saw refugee families taken from their homes in the early hours for deportation - and vigils by ordinary people against Home Office policy showed that the "government, which punts racist ideas, was out of step with the kind of people who should be their natural voters.

"If the government is drawing up racist policies it's hard to see how our society is doing enough to tackle racism."