Social Evils

Social Evils

A new study projects selfishness, greed and family breakdown as present-day "social evils".


The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a social policy research and development charity, compiled a list of top 10 evils on the basis of consultations with more than 3,500 people.

The organisation revealed that most evils were associated with the breakdown of community and family.

The study report suggests that people felt "a strong sense of unease" about some of the changes shaping British society.

"People are concerned about the way our society has become more individualistic, greedy and selfish, seemingly at a cost to our sense of community," the Scotsman quoted the report as saying.

"Connected to all of these issues was the perception that we no longer share a set of common values and that we have lost our 'moral compass'," it added.

The study revealed that many evils were inter-linked. The misuse of drugs and alcohol was identified as both a cause and consequence of many other social problems, such as family breakdown and poverty.

The research also brought to the fore conflicting responses over the role of family, with criticism for "bad parents" and sympathy for those doing their best in difficult circumstances.

People had different views on the importance of having both a mother and a father.

So far as the issue of immigration is concerned, again there were a range of responses, with some respondents feeling that pressure was being put on resources and others...

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