Thinking about the future of change-making
With the election around the corner, Humankind Research have been following the inevitable uptick in psephological speculation with due interest. Through some highly questionable politics of late, there’s something compelling about the power of elections to remind us of the potential for change; even if the extent of that change is limited, or uncertain. But, rather than channel our own predictive powers, we at Humankind have been more invested in making sense of the data and insight that informs the speculation. Not because – at least as recent analyses would have it – the election outcome appears predetermined, such that prediction no longer feels fun. Rather, because the stuff about how people in Britain think and feel today, and the various contextual factors shaping that reality, is what we really care about. And with obvious reason: it’s the kind of insight we’re unearthing regularly for our purposeful brands and not-for-profit clients. It’s also the central focus of Humankind Research’s own annual ‘Audience Update’ which, this year, focuses on the attitudes of young people in today’s Britain. So, our interest was piqued when the National Centre for Social Research’s benchmark British Social Attitudes (BSA) 2024 survey highlighted the insight that younger generations are driving a ‘liberal turn’: characterised by increasing propensity to believe that people should be ‘left to decide for themselves how to live their lives’. This insight chimes with our own Audience Update’s finding that lower belief in politicians and government (also echoed in the BSA) has not just fostered disillusionment with the political system, but led to a widespread embrace of unconventional mechanisms of change-making. These alternative ways of making a difference will be the key focus for our upcoming ‘future of altruism’ segmentation, with interesting potential implications for charities and socially conscious businesses. Keep an eye out, we can’t wait to share more!
By George Webster
Associate Director