How have people / people values changed over the decades?

Heam44

Heam44

Well-known member
Random thought crossed my mind.

Just wondering what people thoughts are regards to how people / peoples values / society / society’s values have changed over the years?

Suppose the obvious ones would be more acceptance towards racial diversity and homosexuality.

I’d be interested to know what the older members think regards to how the ‘average Joe’ has changed over the decades? Or maybe he hasn’t?

Any thought or musing are appreciated!
 
Lot more selfish and greedy. Some think of only themselves. Its a me me me society now unfortunately. Sort of echoing what El Guapo said above.

I know people who are no more in acceptance of racial diversity and homosexuality than they were 20 years ago but they just don't shout about it as much but when the conversations get heated they show their true colours.
 
Interesting the first half dozen replies are so are all regards to selfishness and greed. Not something that would have crossed my mind to be honest.
 
asredastheycome said:
Lot more selfish and greedy. Some think of only themselves. Its a me me me society now unfortunately.
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I agree and I think social media has a lot to do with this. People posting pictures of flash cars and flash holidays etc and a lot of people trying to compete with one another. I find it cringworthy tbh and it's one of the reasons I've never been on social media such as facebook.
 
Gen Z and Millenials to me seem more rounded than the older generations, less judgemental and more concerned about environment, gender and race equality than traditional class values. Older generations, like mine are the ones who have become selfish and are reluctant to let others have the chances we had.
 
Otto42 said:
Gen Z and Millenials to me seem more rounded than the older generations, less judgemental and more concerned about environment, gender and race equality than traditional class values. Older generations, like mine are the ones who have become selfish and are reluctant to let others have the chances we had.
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I agree with this a lot. I work in a sixth form college and have plenty of experience in secondary schools. Nowadays, I find that young people are far more tolerant and less judgemental than when I was their age 30 years ago. Today, they seem more clued up about diversity and tolerance and inclusivity than my generation ever were in the 80s and 90s.

Materially? They do seem to have an "expectation" about what they want etc but then so did me and my mates in the 80s and 90s. They are certainly no worse from what I see.

Regarding values like "saving" for things etc - I always find these claims misunderstood. If young people don't understand things like waiting and saving for things then surely that's because our generation (their parents) haven't taught them it or shown them it. They can't suddenly be good at things their adults haven't done a good job of teaching them?

Too often young people are criticised for behaving in ways that their environment has taught them to behave. The irony being that the moaners are often the generation that fashioned that environment and taught them those behaviours in the first place.
 
Heam44 said:
Interesting the first half dozen replies are so are all regards to selfishness and greed. Not something that would have crossed my mind to be honest.
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They are but you'll notice they are about other people being selfish and not themselves so maybe people are thinking everyone else is selfish rather than it actually being the case. I'd guess selfishness hasn't changed but social media makes individual people's behaviours more noticeable when in the past you had to generalise more.
 
Support Your Local Team said:
Regarding values like "saving" for things etc - I always find these claims misunderstood. If young people don't understand things like waiting and saving for things then surely that's because our generation (their parents) haven't taught them it or shown them it. They can't suddenly be good at things their adults haven't done a good job of teaching them?
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While I'd partially agree about people not being taught about the concept of saving, personally I think personal finance is too readily available for non essentials.
 
Otto42 said:
Gen Z and Millenials to me seem more rounded than the older generations, less judgemental and more concerned about environment, gender and race equality than traditional class values. Older generations, like mine are the ones who have become selfish and are reluctant to let others have the chances we had.
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"Middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin to change places."

The internet has undoubtedly changed the world.
If you'd asked "what is a friend" 10-15 years ago, the thought that it could be someone you've never met in person would have seemed ridiculous. Maybe the odd foreign penpal for some, but that would be it.
I don't think the youth of today would bat an eyelid at the thought of a friend they'd never met.
Increasingly, you are your online image, and that will only increase.

This maybe a controversial opinion: direct prejudice against class/social background is less common than it has been in the past.. I know we're not there with this yet, and you can still find many examples of unacceptable discrimination still. But has it ever been better than it is today?
I recall a senior academic telling my then-girlfriend (also a lecturer) that she wouldn't have been allowed to teach with her accent in his day. The difference as I see it is while that snobbery may still exist, it's widely condemned now, rather than accepted as right and proper.

The final change I've noticed is a little sinister, and that is a learned disdain for education. In the last 15-20 years I've noticed an increased attitude amongst the worst off in society that they neither need nor want education. Usually this is followed by pointing to a rare example like Alan Sugar of a success despite a lack of education. We seem to have drifted a long way from education as the best liberator of potential from the mid-90s.
 
Frozen Horse said:
"Middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin to change places."

The internet has undoubtedly changed the world.
If you'd asked "what is a friend" 10-15 years ago, the thought that it could be someone you've never met in person would have seemed ridiculous. Maybe the odd foreign penpal for some, but that would be it.
I don't think the youth of today would bat an eyelid at the thought of a friend they'd never met.
Increasingly, you are your online image, and that will only increase.

This maybe a controversial opinion: direct prejudice against class/social background is less common than it has been in the past.. I know we're not there with this yet, and you can still find many examples of unacceptable discrimination still. But has it ever been better than it is today?
I recall a senior academic telling my then-girlfriend (also a lecturer) that she wouldn't have been allowed to teach with her accent in his day. The difference as I see it is while that snobbery may still exist, it's widely condemned now, rather than accepted as right and proper.

The final change I've noticed is a little sinister, and that is a learned disdain for education. In the last 15-20 years I've noticed an increased attitude amongst the worst off in society that they neither need nor want education. Usually this is followed by pointing to a rare example like Alan Sugar of a success despite a lack of education. We seem to have drifted a long way from education as the best liberator of potential from the mid-90s.
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Agree about education, but I also think it’s the elites closing ranks and subtly trying to discourage the working class from getting educated and threatening their traditional positions in the upper echelons of organisations.

Going to university is becoming ridiculously expensive for ordinary people, it could eventually just become a system to educate government sponsored foreigners.

No doubt at all the U.K. is regressing just now.
 
I would hazard a guess that people are the same as they were 40 years ago. No better and no worse.

There is more tolerance of diversity, but if you were a racist homaphobe 30 years ago, you probably still are today, you just don't get away with vocalising it.
 
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