As we hit the mid-point of 2025, it’s hard to believe we’re almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century. And looking back over the years, it can seem as if literally everything has changed.
Technology has revolutionised the way we live and work, major advances in healthcare are bringing vast improvements to our quality of life, and education is becoming more globally available.
On the other hand, the world ground to a standstill in 2020 with the onset of Covid. We began to appreciate the power of slowing down and meeting in person with friends and family.
Gentler approaches to work have seen an end to the manic, fast-paced expectations of the 80s. Replaced with a more pragmatic focus on productivity and wellbeing.
In a bid to see what we think about the world and our place in it, The Policy Institute at King’s College London has conducted a study looking at everyday life, education, and work in the UK.
The study explores our attitudes to these areas today, and from selected times in the 1930s and 1940s, to establish what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and what’s gone full circle.
Shifts in attitudes to education show a rise in homework expectations and a changed approach to demographics
Schooling and education have undergone fairly radical changes over the past century, and attitudes reflect this.
When asked whether children should have homework:
- 21% of people said yes in 1937
- 68% said yes in 2024.
The approach to demographics within schools has also shifted considerably. Regarding whether boys and girls should be taught together:
- 45% of people agreed in 1946
- 76% agreed in 2024.
Interestingly, however, while 9% of those aged 35—54 and over 55 respectively felt that boys and girls should be taught separately, it was the youngest group, those aged 18—34, who at 19%, felt most strongly in favour of this.
Division of labour is more evenly balanced today, and women feel happier being women
Housework can be a hot topic, with division of labour often the cause of household arguments, then and now.
While only a quarter of men never did any housework in 1947, that figure is a much more muted 4% in 2024. However, the Office for National Statistics’ ‘Time Use Study’ found that women spend an average of 57 minutes more each day on housework, caring for others, and volunteering than men.
Keeping the focus on gender, in 1947, 37% of women said they’d prefer to be a man, while just 9% feel this way today. Men’s attitudes here remain largely unchanged, with just 1 in 20 in both eras saying they’d rather be a woman.
Keeping fit is more popular than ever, we place equal emphasis on job security and wages, and would like to move abroad
Today, many of us place a keen focus on exercise, with government guidelines, celebrity fitness gurus and wearable technology all giving us advice and statistics about our activity.
And this is backed up by the data, with 66% of people in 2024 saying they exercised to keep fit, compared with 44% in 1937.
Many more of the population can also swim now, 79% versus 54% in 1946.
In terms of our working lives:
- Back in 1946, 73% of people favoured job security over high wages.
- This was a more balanced split in 2024 – 41% said security and lower wages would be their choice, and 46% vice versa.
Attitudes towards a more global way of life have also shifted. In 1948, an emphatic 53% said they would never settle in another country, compared with 34% ruling it out today.
Getting up, and gardening: our attitudes remain largely unchanged
However, as the saying goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.
And it seems that, no matter how much technology we have, getting up in the morning is no easier now than it ever was. Attitudes to this aspect of life were virtually unchanged from 1947 to 2024.
Gentle pastimes also remain a firm favourite. Just over half of the public said they had a flower or vegetable garden in 2024, almost the same figure as in 1939.
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Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.