Society Watch

Providing a snapshot of what life is like for people in Britain today.

In 2020, coinciding with its 50th anniversary, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) launched the first in its series of annual Society Watch reports, drawing together new and existing research from across multiple sources and organisations to shed light on people's lives and our society. The aim of these reports is to provide a useful snapshot of what life is like for people in the UK today. 

This research focuses on a particularly hot topic, examining key themes from the evidence presented in more detail. These reports are presented at an open event, to provide further insights and discussion. Previous research has covered mental health, the social legacy of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

  • Previous Society Watch events have been kindly sponsored by UKRI/Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the British Academy and the Nuffield Foundation. 
  • We welcome any funding interest for our future reports and events. For more information, please get in touch at comms@natcen.ac.uk.
  • A key outcome of Society Watch is the engagement and impact we achieve with both policy stakeholders and the media. 
  • The findings of our previous reports were featured in the media, most notably on BBC's Newsnight, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and ITV Peston. 

Society Watch 2024: Understanding the new generation of voters 

The Society Watch 2024 report explored the attitudes of Generation Z and the ways in which they think differently to older generations. This election edition focuses specifically on Gen Z’s attitudes to some of the most contested policy issues of our time: law and order, social care, and housing.

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