Gen Z think UK is racist and would not fight for their country

The study has been carried out 20 years after The Times last examined the views of young Britons — at that time focusing on a generation that came of age at the end of the Cold War and the dawn of the internet.

Throughout this week we will be revealing further findings from the project including extraordinary shifts in attitudes towards marriage, which will be published on Tuesday, and changing views about social drinking, to be published on Wednesday.

The series also looks at the impact of the Covid pandemic on Gen Z and answers whether, in hindsight, young people think lockdowns were worth it.

The survey reveals how starkly attitudes have changed, with marked declines in confidence in institutions and belief in the UK as a nation. In 2004, 80 per cent of young people said they were proud to be British — almost twice as many as today — while almost 60 per cent said the country was united, compared with 15 per cent now.

• Explaining the Times Generation Z survey: the methodology and the charts

Unlike now, they also thought the country was forward-looking and tolerant, with clear majorities saying that Britain was not stuck in the past and was respectful of the views of others.

Summer Nesbeth, a 23-year-old model and journalism student from Nottingham, said that she was reluctant to fight for Britain because as a nation we do not respect minorities.

“Why would I help you, if you don’t want to really help me, and half the time you want to get rid of me, that’s what it sometimes feels like.”

Nesbeth is half-Indian and half-Jamaican and has experienced treatment that she believes suggests systemic racism.

“I think it’s wrong and delusional to think that this isn’t a racist country when so many things still happen which are the result of there being a lot of systemic racism.

“I have been stopped and searched in stores to check I’m not stealing, I’ve seen my dad, who is a tall black man, stopped. A boy at school told me he wouldn’t hang out with me because I wasn’t white.

“We don’t learn about black history but we were built on racism. It’s not right to say we aren’t racist, it might not be blatant but it’s systemic racism and deeply entrenched unconscious bias.”

Nesbeth featured in a debate hosted by the columnists Hugo Rifkind and Alice Thomson, in which the views of Generation Z that were identified by our survey were challenged. She wasn’t alone in having strong views on racism.

• Watch the Gen Z debate with Hugo Rifkind and Alice Thomson

Uthman Odusote, 22, is a support worker with Fight 4 Change, a charity in south London that aims to improve opportunities for young black people.

He said he was surprised that only half of the young people surveyed by YouGov and The Times thought Britain was a racist country but he believed racism today was more covert.

“I feel like it is a tool that has been consistently utilised and weaponised to divide us as a people and distract us from other issues that we should be tackling,” Uthman said.

“I think the fact it is harder to see and how ingrained it is in society today is making it worse for young people who are subject to racism and that is a hard pill to swallow.”

Charlie Sawyer, a 25-year-old digital editor, was clear in her view that Britain was a racist country.

She said: “I think a lot of people are scared of that word and do not like to admit that it exists, to admit their participation in it, but if you’re not willing to recognise how as a society we still contribute to systemic racism, casual racism, I don’t think that there’s going to be any progress there.”

The Times study also reveals that young people are more downbeat and disillusioned about the country in which they live than members of older generations today.

Senior military and political figures described The Times’s findings as a “wake-up call” that raised profound questions about the way in which society had changed over the past two decades.

General Sir Patrick Sanders, who was head of the British Army until June last year, said: “If we aren’t prepared to fight for our freedom and way of life as we have always done, then we will become prey in a world of predators.

“It must lead to a concerted effort to change attitudes in a way that the next generation appreciates the reality of the challenges we now face as a country, which impact on our security at home.”

The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the findings were very worrying. “Too many young people do not believe they have a stake in the future,” she said.

“It is critical we leave something positive for the next generation. It is particularly shocking that so many young people think Britain is a racist country. It is absolutely not the case, but this is what happens when we let false narratives take root.”

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “We need to transform our politics and get our economy back on track, to give [young people] real hope for the future and a sense of pride in our great country.”

In contrast to Gen Z’s dissatisfaction with their nation, more than half of those aged from 50 to 64 were proud to be British, rising to 70 per cent among those aged 65 and above. Only 26 per cent of over 65s thought Britain to be a racist country.

Likewise, 47 per cent of Gen Z thought Britain to be a tolerant country, a statistic that rises to 68 per cent among those aged 50 to 64 and to 74 per cent among pensioners.

Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, who has researched the changing attitudes of young Britons, said today’s cohort were disillusioned because of their economic and political inheritance.

“This is a generation that has struggled with wage stagnation and found it far harder to accumulate wealth,” he said.

“But cultural issues have also become far more central to politics than they have been in the past. You have seen Brexit and the trans debate, where young people are increasingly at odds with the (views of the) older generation, which in part also explains their disillusionment.”

Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank, who has studied changing attitudes towards racism in the UK, added that, unlike people like him who had grown up in a world where it was acceptable to throw bananas at black footballers, young people today had not experienced the huge progress that had been made in racial equality in the past 40 years.

“They are pessimistic because they have grown up in a much more multicultural society and believe in true equality.

“So they are much less forgiving of what they see as the remaining racial injustices. It doesn’t help to say, ‘You’ve got it better than your grandparents’ — they want fair chances and equal treatment for everyone today.”

The study also reveals that Gen Z has little faith in the institutions that their predecessors largely accepted and respected:

Catherine Roper, the chief constable of Wiltshire police who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s work on children and young people, said it was awful that Generation Z had lost confidence in the police.

“If we are not trusted, then people will not pick up the phone and allow us to help them, or provide us with information that can help us police effectively, prevent crime and keep people safe,” she said.

“All forces need to be focused on giving people a reason to trust us again. We need to ensure that we are involved and engaged with communities. The first contact young people have with us should not be when they are involved in any way in a criminal investigation, be that victim or suspect.”

Even the NHS, long seen as Britain’s most esteemed institution, has seen its support wane among the young.

A little under half (48 per cent) would place significant trust in the NHS to treat them if they were ill, while 7 per cent would not trust the health service at all.

Again, these views contrast starkly with those of two decades ago.

Sofia Maughan, 25, writes and TikToks about her experience living in the UK with Crohn’s, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

Her lifelong illness means she has frequent contact with the NHS and her experience with the people, especially the nurses, who work in the health service has been overwhelmingly positive.

Sofia said: “I think the NHS are the backbone of this country. As someone with Crohn’s I’ve personally seen what they sacrifice for not a huge amount in return.”

But she was aware that bed shortages and funding presented risks to her health.

“I really trust the NHS, I know that if I’m in a life-threatening condition again they will save me, I know they’ll take care of me. But a part of me also doesn’t because unless I’m in a hospital bed I really only get one or two appointments a year. There’s not enough support for young people with chronic illnesses.”

Twenty years ago one of the most startling findings of The Times’s research into millennials was their views on military service.

Members of the 2004 cohort were living through the British military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan that resulted in hundreds of UK casualties.

British troops near Basra in southern Iraq in September 2004

MARCO DI LAURO/GETTY

At the time it seemed shocking that only 22 per cent said they would fight for their country, while 19 per cent would refuse to take up arms “under any circumstances”. The majority (57 per cent) said they would fight only if they agreed with the reasons for war.

Here is how we covered it at the time

Yet now, only 11 per cent would fight for their country, just half the proportion in 2004 — and 41 per cent said there were no circumstances in which they would take up arms.

As part of our research, The Times conducted a series of focus groups. At the session held in Birmingham, Nicole, a 22-year-old dancer, was clear on her views about military action.

“I can’t kill anyone, I’d probably cry,” she said. “It’s just stupid I think, killing people.”

As to be expected, opinions were nuanced and varied. Joel Pitchers, 23, of Hartlepool, works as a technician for the NHS facilitating training for medical students.

He understood why his generation might be unwilling to fight and believed National Service was likely to become a necessity to bolster the country’s defences.

When asked why he thought many of his generation would not take part in National Service, he said: “People don’t want to die, it’s human nature but I think people should have a good look at their values and what they want to stand for: is a single life worth more than protecting the freedom and the way of life we have now?”

He added: “When Russia first invaded Ukraine, I would have said no to National Service but with the way things are going, it’s not fair to leave everything to a few people and have our lives cut short by the barbarity of some countries. A lot of people that are saying that they would only join the military for the right reasons — if it’s a question of living or dying I’d say that’s the right reason.”

Sergeant Varri Murdoch, 28, is in the Royal Military Police. She has worked for the past two years training new recruits at Pirbright in Surrey.

She said: “I joined the military to grasp new opportunities, travel, see the world and make something of my life through a structured career.”

Despite her own experience, Murdoch understood why some young people might be hesitant to join up.

“I think some don’t have an accurate representation of what it actually entails, they think your freedom will be taken away and you’ll be shouted at but while you might have a more strict schedule, you still have opportunities to spend [time] with friends and family.”

General Sir Patrick Sanders said that Generation Z had been “lucky enough to be able to take peace and security for granted” and saw “no sense of threat or peril to this country from what is happening in Russia and the Middle East”.

But he added that he was confident that when the “chips were down” they would change their attitudes.

“I have faith in this generation — the soldiers, sailors and aviators I served with from Gen Z are as tough, brave and committed as any. Their civilian friends will be no different when the chips are down.”

Portraits by Times photographers Richard Pohle and James Glossop; Lucy Young, Joshua Bratt and William Blakesley-Herbert for The Times