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Building understanding of fairness, equality and good relations

About the study

Not enough is known about how the public interprets and values the concepts of fairness, equality and good relations in today's society. This study takes a first step towards filling this gap, and was commissioned by The Equality and Human Rights Commission. 

We held focus groups across the country to find out what people thought about fairness, equality and good relations. These discussions have already yielded many interesting findings, which you can read in two reports. The  first report covers England, Scotland and Wales and the  second report focuses on attitudes in Scotland. Our findings include:

There was a view that Britain can be too fair. People with this view felt some people got more out of the system than they put in.

People thought equality meant equality of opportunity or equality of outcome. The first was viewed as desirable while the second was viewed as neither desirable or achievable.

People generally struggled with the term 'good relations' and did not use it in everyday life.

Timeline

Policy impact

The Equality and Human Rights Commission aims to protect and promote human rights. In order for them to succeed in these goals they need to find out about people's different understanding of the concepts of equality, fairness and good relations.

Methods

Our first step was to conduct a literature review and secondary analysis of existing data. We then hosted 23 focus groups across England, Scotland and Wales. Participants were purposively sampled to capture as wide a range of views and experiences as possible. We also held two stakeholder seminars in Scotland and Wales. The knowledge we aquired from these two stages of the research were used to draft a set of survey questions that could be used in the future to measure public attitudes to fairness, equality and good relations.

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Of interest: