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If the Prime Minister addressed the nation, and invited us to ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country, how many of us would respond positively?
Confronted by the gravest of dangers there is little doubt that most of us would. One of the reasons the Second World War looms large in our national psyche is the pride we feel in the generation that kept going amid the rationing, the bombing and the loss of their loved ones in foreign fields.
And while, unlike the brave Ukrainians, we have not faced such existential danger since, we have been tested in other ways. As the pandemic ripped through the country three years ago, nurses signed up to serve on Covid wards. Medics returned to the front line. And millions volunteered to help neighbours and support health workers.
It is natural that these great waves of solidarity recede. Without a common danger, many of us return to our quiet lives. Psychologists say this is no surprise: humans are a combination of selfish and groupish. We compete with one another within our societies, and we co-operate with one another to overcome external threats and pursue the common good.
Yet some worry that something bigger might be at play. Charities report a drop-off in volunteering not just to pre-Covid levels but even lower. In the face of inflation, labour relations in the sectors that received most public support during the pandemic – the railways and public services – have grown bitter and rancorous.
There are explanations. Covid undoubtedly sapped our social energy. Its economic aftermath leaves us poorer, and many fell out of the social habits that bring civic confidence and mutual trust. Urban communities feel edgier than before, with crime and anti-social behaviour more visible. And with prices rising, it is little surprise that those who are in a position to flex their labour market muscle – trade unions in the public sector and privatised monopolies – seek for themselves what is not possible for others.
These are not the only ways in which our society has become more about “me” than “we”. There is the sheer aggression and criminality – too rarely punished by the courts and rarely confronted by the rest of us – in many cities. There is the welfare culture that still exists in many communities: something, again, that is not only not tackled by the state but often actively promoted. Call some GP surgeries now and the recorded messages promise, unprompted, to help with housing and disability benefits.
The problem is not, as many often assume, limited to council estates and the poorest families – many of whom have often lost their confidence and connection to the world of work. There are the separated middle-class parents who refuse to pay their fair share for their own children. There are those who funnel their wealth into offshore tax havens to avoid contributing to the society in which they live and from which they benefit.
And what is true of individuals is true of companies and institutions too. The employers who refuse to treat their staff fairly, or exploit their customers. The businesses that refuse to recognise they are – or should be – part of the communities in which they base themselves. The institutions that lose sight of the people and purposes they serve, and close ranks to protect their own.
This may sound pessimistic, and it is true many millions still volunteer, most of us are considerate neighbours, and by and large parents bring up children to become responsible young adults. For every dodgy corporate there is a Timpson Group, and for every feckless parent there are many families working all hours to give their kids the best start they can.
But if we want Britain to become more responsible and more self-reliant, we need to be honest about the reasons why we are not where we need to be. A meritocratic society untampered by concern for the common good is inevitably harsher and more selfish, for the successful are encouraged to believe that they got to the top by their own talent alone. The incentives we give – through culture and ethos but corporate behaviour and policy too – promote selfishness and individualism.
If we want something better we need to build something better. But what? First, family should be put at the heart of both tax and welfare policy.
Challenges like childcare and social care should be met not only by commercial or state providers but also through help for families who want to care for their own children or elderly parents. When couples marry they share risk and reduce exposure to that risk for the rest of us. By having children, they contribute to society. Parents should receive more support, and marriage should be recognised in the tax system.
Second, we must recognise that our broader social failures make the problem worse. Young couples delay having children when they cannot afford a family home of their own. Parents with a limited understanding of health and nutrition do not raise healthy families. Those who live great distances from their parents find it harder to help if dementia or other degenerative conditions strike. Policy should be shaped by the needs of family, and those who struggle need to be helped to help themselves.
And third, we need to do more than just go for the easy targets. The successful should understand that their success confers on them a responsibility to help others. Tax evasion should be countered, and tax havens closed down. And we should not mistake big business for free markets. Exploitative business practices should end, and workplace rights and consumer protections enforced.
The call of community is part of the conservative philosophy of paradoxes. By accepting constraints on our freedom, we end up freer and happier. By doing more for others, more will be done for you. By ending the rights culture, we all become more responsible. We need to restore the invisible forces of social trust, self-reliance and reciprocity. Stop asking what others can do for you, and start to ask what you might do for others.
We are becoming a selfish society. It is government’s job to tackle that
From wealthy tax dodgers to welfare scammers, too many of us forget we all owe a debt to the country