Primary qualitative research was commissioned to support the strand of the IFS/ Deaton Review of Inequalities addressing “public attitudes to inequalities”, to explore:
• people’s awareness and concerns about different types of inequality in society, including how they conceptualise their own identities in relation to these issues;
• the extent to which they personally support structural explanations for inequality, and why – as well as what other explanations they offer to account for inequalities in society; and
• what manifestations of inequality are of most and least concern to them, and the drivers of this.
In order to do this, qualitative research was designed to take an exploratory approach, as well as to dig beneath surface opinions to uncover the values and beliefs, often rooted in personal experiences, which underpinned participants’ responses. In addition, the research was designed to complement findings from a recent survey (‘Unequal Britain’) conducted by Kings Policy Institute.