Summary
Vertical inequalities
Horizontal inequalities
Impacts of inequality
Discussion
TYPES OF INEQUALITY
Our findings are broadly in line with the results from other recent attitudinal research in the UK. Polling and focus group evidence consistently shows that people are concerned about economic and regional inequalities. However, our research suggests that many people are increasingly worried about inequalities of class, disability and ethnicity, to the point where these have reached level pegging with regional inequalities. Other ‘vertical’ inequalities - of health, education, political influence, and status and respect - are also becoming more salient.
The Policy Institute at King’s College London found in their 2021 report Unequal Britain that Britons are much more concerned about regional inequalities (61%) and economic inequalities (60%) than anything else, with racial inequalities at 45% and educational inequalities at 41%, and surprisingly low levels of concern about inequalities of gender (28%), health (26%) and age (22%). They did not ask about class or disability, and the difference in concern about racial inequalities could in part be due to the wording of the question (with respondents in 2021 being asked to select the most serious three or four inequalities), but it also seems possible that racial (and other) inequalities are becoming increasingly salient.
Our findings are almost identical to analysis carried out by the Policy Institute for their chapter on Attitudes to inequalities for the IFS Deaton Review in 2021. Here, they suggested that concern about regional inequalities unites those with ‘individualist’ and ‘structuralist’ mindsets (affecting 55% of the former group and 68% of the latter group). Our polling finds that 53% of 2019 Conservative voters (broadly individualists) and 66% of 2019 Labour voters (broadly structuralists) think regional inequalities are a moderate or big problem. However, we also found that both groups broadly shared concerns about health inequalities (uniting 64% of 2019 Conservative voters and 78% of 2019 Labour voters).
By contrast, views about other ‘popular’ inequalities varied more markedly by political affiliation (with a 26 percentage point gap between Labour and Conservative voters on whether class inequality is a problem). The latest British Social Attitudes survey found that class identities have sharpened in recent years, with 77% agreeing that class affects opportunities, higher even than in the 1980s, and 32% saying it is difficult to move between classes, up from 17% in 2005, reflecting real decreases in social mobility during that period. It concluded that people are more aware of class inequalities in Britain, and that class identity is not just about occupation, but is also strongly influenced by education and income.
Polling that we conducted with Ipsos in 2023 (Fairly United) broadly mirrors the results of our polling in this survey with Opinium on attitudes to horizontal inequalities, although there were significant differences in the groups that we asked about. The Ipsos research found that, when asked which groups most experience unequal of unfair treatment in Britain today, people are most concerned about the unfair treatment of immigrants (30%) and people with physical disabilities (29%), followed by people from minority ethnic groups (28%) and people with mental health conditions (27%). At the bottom of the table were men (9%, compared to 22% for women) and young adults (8%, compared to 16% for senior citizens).
POLITICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS
While there are unsurprising political differences in attitudes and awareness, there is a broad consensus of concern, including across generational divides. However, women and those on higher incomes are more worried about inequalities and their impacts than men and those on lower incomes.
This contrasts with the predictable finding that people at the sharp end of specific forms of inequality (regional, disability, gender, ethnicity etc) are more likely to be concerned about them. More research is needed to untangle this apparent contradiction.
AWARENESS OF THE IMPACTS OF INEQUALITY
It is clear that, while there are high levels of concern about a range of inequalities, fewer people are aware of the impacts of inequality on a range of ‘public goods’, from fairness and social cohesion to democracy and economic growth.
Crime stands out, perhaps because it is more intuitive, while awareness of health and social inequalities may have risen due to COVID and the cost-of-living crisis. Inequality campaigners may need to do more to highlight the negative impacts of inequality on key public and political priorities, but should be aware of the challenges in making these less intuitive connections in people’s minds.
We do know that, when prompted, people do express concern about the negative impacts of inequality on ‘public goods’. For example, a survey that we carried out in May 2023 on attitudes to wealth inequality found that 75% of people (including 72% of 2019 Tory voters) are concerned that people with net wealth of £10m or more have too much influence on the political system.
As the chart below shows, concern about economic inequality is highly correlated with the belief that inequality is bad for democracy (and there are similar relationships between other types of inequality and impacts), suggesting that raising public awareness of the impact of inequality on democracy, growth and so on is a promising way of building a consensus on tackling inequalities.
Summary
Vertical inequalities
Horizontal inequalities
Impacts of inequality
Discussion