Few will dispute that we are living in confusing times geopolitically and societally. This frequently sparks interesting conversations and debates with friends and family about whether life today is better than in previous decades. Below, I seek to establish if Britain’s best years for overall harmony and quality of life are behind us.
As someone born in the sixties, I firmly believe that the 70s and 80s were Britain’s best decades for overall quality of life and will never be surpassed. However, I realise that those times were part of my formative years and will be biased.
From what I can recall, life in the 1970s and 1980s was much more cohesive societally. People were more polite and respectful, seemed happier, and life was much less confusing and complicated than today.
However, the goal of this opinion piece is not to establish which decade is the best; I want to determine whether there is any substance to my belief that Britain’s best years are now behind us, and the only way to know is to investigate the facts.
Are the UK’s Best Decades for Social Cohesion and Quality of Life Now Behind It?
The Research
When performing my research, I found a common thread: the UK’s post-war decades, the 1950s to the 1970s, are commonly singled out as the peak for social cohesion and life quality in Britain. Some reasons for this are that the welfare state was expanding, the NHS was in its early days, and there was a sense of collective rebuilding after the war.
Putting more feathers in the cap of the 50s-70s period was that income inequality was relatively low (the Gini coefficient hovered around 0.25 in the 1960s, per ONS historical stats), and trust in institutions like government and media was comparatively high.
Polls from the time (British Social Attitudes surveys) revealed that more than half of the population trusted politicians in the early post-war years, starkly contrasting the less than one-fifth reported today.
To back up what some might consider my romanticised recollections, social commentary shows that communities were much tighter-knit. There was also less geographic mobility, meaning people stayed put, which allowed quality relationships to be built. In addition, in the late 1970s, union membership was peaking at more than 13 million, which helped to foster a shared identity.
Establishing whether the 1950s to the 1980s offered a better quality of life was more difficult. However, what I uncovered was very promising. According to the ONS, during this period, life expectancy rose from sixty-six in 1950 to seventy-two by 1980, and basics like housing and nutrition improved. There was an end to rationing, and council housing was booming.
Crime rates were also lower, with data from the Home Office showing about one million recorded crimes in 1960 compared to six million by the 2000s. During that period, the UK’s population was estimated to be 52.5 million in 1960, while in the 2000s, it was 58-59 million. Although the UK population did increase, it didn’t significantly alter the trajectory of the crime rate.
Another factor that people of my generation often cite as a positive is that there was no internet, few television channels and almost no mobile phones, which created less cultural fragmentation.
Now that we’ve established the ‘Good’, we must look at the ‘Bad’ and the ‘Ugly’.
To be fair, the 50s-70s weren’t perfect by any means. In the 70s, there were nationwide strikes, power cuts, and the Winter of Discontent, which lasted from September 1978 to February 1979. This period saw bin bags pile up in Britain’s streets. Plus, racial tensions came to a head with the Notting Hill riots.
Also, if you were poor, a woman, or not heterosexual, the ’50s and ’60s would’ve been a challenging time, as there was no Equal Pay Act, and homosexuality was a criminal offence until ’67.
Life Today
Many will not be surprised to learn that putting current times alongside previous times in the list of Britain’s best decades is a tough ask.
Looking at the data, our current times reveal a mixed bag.
On the downside, social cohesion has fallen, and trust in institutions is staggeringly low. The Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that the fear that leaders are lying to us is at an all-time high. In addition, the Edelman Trust’s Barometer shows a drop in trust for the UK government to one of the lowest figures in Europe, along with a general lack of optimism for the next generation.
It’s not only an erosion in institutional trust that casts a shadow over the country. Knife crime is up, with the ONS reporting 50,000+ violent offences in 2023. In addition, immigration has become one of the most divisive issues, according to the ONS.
Food types and availability are also factors in the overall equation. Although fast food outlets were introduced in the UK in the 1970s (Wimpey et al.), the 2000s stand out as the period with the largest increase in outlets.
Science shows that longer-term and excessive consumption of fast and ultra-processed foods influences people’s happiness. A 2018 study in the Nutritional Neuroscience journal linked diets high in these foods to increased inflammation and oxidative stress, which are associated with higher rates of depression and anxiety.
Consuming these food types disrupts the gut microbiota, which influences serotonin production, also known as the “Happy Hormone”.
Although the above paints a negative picture of these current times, there are some positives.
First and foremost, life expectancy has increased further, with the ONS stating that it now sits at 81 years, and at the time of writing, healthcare is still free in the UK.
Many will also view technological advancements as hugely beneficial, making everyday life easier, particularly with broadband being available almost everywhere in the country. I will address this in the conclusion of this feature.
According to data from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, real wages have also increased when adjusted for inflation since the 1950s. Additionally, the choice of products is more extensive, and people are freer to be themselves; examples include the introduction of same-sex marriages and there are better gender equality laws.
Conclusion
People of my generation (X) and the Baby Boomers have a significant advantage over subsequent generations: We have lived for more decades. As such, we are better placed to make a direct comparison between life in Britain at that time and life today.
When I compare the decades from the 1950s to the 1980s to those that followed, something stands out: technology wasn’t a dominating factor in people’s lives.
The internet, mobile phones, and social media have been helpful. However, they have also become the perfect platform from which advertisers can constantly tell people to have more to be better and happier, suggesting that they are less than what they are. These are hardly the best ingredients for fostering contentment or cohesion.
Another thing I’ve noticed since the introduction of the internet and social media is the massive increase in materialistic tendencies over recent decades, which by no coincidence has seen a rise in Narcissistic Personality Disorder, superiority complexes, and heightened egos, particularly in the West/Developed World.
Clever, purposeful programming has morphed social media from being an informative and fun tool into a platform that drives surges of dopamine, producing feelings similar to those experienced by people addicted to drugs and gambling.
Dr Nancy DeAngelis CRNP, Director of Behavioral Health, Jefferson Health, has stated that overusing social media causes rewiring in a young person’s brain, which results in them constantly seeking out immediate gratification, which leads to obsessive, compulsive and addictive behaviours. In addition, it is known to worsen existing disorders, such as depression, anxiety, ADHA and body dysmorphia.
This could be related to Baby Boomers and Generation X’s lack of optimism about the future of younger people.
It’s not just the internet that has driven a stake in modern-day harmony; media organisations have been equally culpable. News broadcasters, newspapers, and news platforms know that bad news sells, and they constantly use this to their full effect to capture an audience. Their willingness to produce content and titillate over basic reporting facts creates anxiousness and worry in people and a heightened distrust of others.
Technology has played a massive role in shaping today’s society. It would be hypocritical of me to write that I want to see the back of it—after all, I am using it now! However, I will not hide my feeling that it has been a significant factor in weakening societal harmony, which could be why people feel less happy and more ‘on edge’ today than in previous decades.
In addition, more recent times have borne the full brunt of Margaret Thatcher’s policies, which turbocharged materialism through deregulation, privatisation, and a free-market ideology.
It was a time when the ‘yuppie’ culture boomed, particularly in the City of London, along with a nationwide surge in consumer credit (credit cards), which drove conspicuous consumption, with people conditioned to think they needed to have luxury cars, designer clothes, and grander properties to be validated and respected.
People will undoubtedly argue against my lack of enthusiasm for the 1990s and the noughties. It would be nice to write that these are better times; however, too many things have been introduced that have prevented the flourishing of general happiness, the seed needed to create social harmony and contentment.
Final Thoughts
After wading through all of the available data, I feel I am in a position to answer whether the best of times is behind us or yet to come in my home country. Admittedly, any conclusion will also come down to what individuals want from life.
If you prize stability, group cohesiveness, contentment, friendliness, and general consideration for others, you will probably share my view that the 1950s to the 1980s were the pinnacle. Then again, if you value individual freedom, choice, diversity, and the benefits technology brings, these current times can be seen as pretty good, too.
The data shows that social harmony has fallen from its peak, which, for me, is a key factor in determining the best of times.
The title of this piece states that Britain’s Baby Boomers and Generation X are the Lucky ones. Based on my research, I have concluded that they are and will likely have experienced Britain’s best decades; I hope I am wrong.