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David Couchman

David Couchman

David Couchman is the lead author for the 'Facing the Challenge' series of courses.

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David Couchman's blog on living in today's world in the light of the Bible

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David Couchman has led seminars at national events such as the Christian Resources Exhibition, Keswick Convention, and the FIEC Conference. Many of his sermons can be found on this web site.

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Mapping Britain's Moral Values

Mapping Britain's moral values

This survey of moral values in Britain today was done for Nestle's Family Monitor, and published in March 2000

This survey examined what adults - those aged 15 and over - see as their own moral values. It examined particular age groups with distinctive profiles:

It says that the 25-34 age group is distinct from the others, and it calls them 'the G-kids'.  People in this group reached maturity during a time of rapid social change: Glasnost, Globalization and Green awareness.

There are three main strands to the results of the survey:

  1. A consensus about moral values
  2. A significant group (about 20% of the total) which the survey calls the 'morally marginalized'
  3. A pattern of differences which is age-related

(1) The consensus

Most of us think that honesty is the most important moral value. Our ethics are - we say - shaped by the golden rule, 'do to others what you wish they would do to you.'

Most of us have seen some positive changes in our lifetimes:

But we have also seen some negative changes:

The survey says that people today 'strongly believe that we should be a tolerant and equitable society'.

In the past people's moral values clustered along political left/right, liberal/conservative lines - that is, if someone had conservative values in one area, they were likely to have conservative values in other areas too; if they had liberal values in one area, they were likely to be liberal about most things.  But today, there is a consensus that is liberal/left about some values, but at the same time conservative/right about others

(2) The 'morally marginalized'

There is a significant group whose moral values are different from the consensus. This group makes up about 20% of the total. They are likely to be relativistic about morals.  This group is larger among younger people (see below under 'age-related differences'). Someone in this group is less likely to be a church attender, though not necessarily less likely to be a believer.

(3) Age-related differences

There are some significant differences over moral values according to how old people are. For example, the youngest are most concerned for tolerance.  They are likely to have the philosophy 'always do what you want as long as you don't hurt anyone'.  They are likely to be ambivalent about honesty.

The 'morally marginalized' are found among people of all ages, but they are a larger proportion of the younger age groups.

Under 25s formed 15% of the total sample, but 31% of the morally marginalized

Over 55s formed 31% of the total sample, but only 11% of the morally marginalized.

The survey concludes:

An alternative value system exists on our moral map which is found more often in younger people than in older, but by no means reflects the majority view of younger people.

But the age pattern may mean that the 'morally marginalized' are a growing trend.


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