In the past, Britain was a great empire, yet the public's attitudes towards its past have shifted as time went on. Recent polls show that more and more people are looking at England's past more critically and are less likely to take pride in its history.
Over the past decade, pride in Britain's past among its citizens has fallen from 86% to 64%. The British social attitudes survey also found that only 49% of Britons wouldn't want to be citizens of any other country, compared to 62% who said the same thing 10 years ago.
The achievements Brits are generally the most proud of are arts and sports. In 2013, people were the most proud of Britain's history, but in 2023, that plummeted to third place. The survey reports claim that this shift in attitudes "is perhaps a picture of a country that to some degree at least becomes more reflective about itself and about its relationship with the rest of the world."
The biggest driving force behind this shift might be the younger generation. A recent YouGov survey shows that Britons aged 18-24 are most likely to say that Britain's past is something to be more ashamed than proud of. They also believe that its former colonies are now doing worse because they were part of the British empire.
Young Britons also believe that students should learn more about the impacts of British imperialism in school. Twenty-two percent of Britons aged 18-24 advocate for a more critical history education, but only 8% of the general British population agree. Many people think that schools should concentrate on teaching students the positive aspects of the British Empire so that they're proud of their country's past.
Historians say that neither end of the spectrum is ideal. Dr. Rakib Ehsan, a senior advisor at Policy Exchange and co-author of the new report A Portrait of Modern Britain, told The Telegraph that the British should focus on striking a balance between being critical and taking pride in their national history.
"The most confident nations are the ones that own up to the mistakes of the past but are also confident about the positive contributions they've made," Dr. Ehsan explained to The Telegraph. "I'd like to see Britain in that space."
Other scholars believe that there's nothing wrong with being critical of Britain's past. Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Sussex, Alan Lester, claims that "one does not have to believe that Britons were monsters – or indeed any better or any worse as a nation than any other – to see how the various, diverse forms of colonialism that they imposed, from missionary work through commercial exploitation to invasive settlement, could have terrible effects."
