The contrasting nature of poverty in Glasgow's infamous Easterhouse estate was evident. Suddenly we were hit by the reality of the poverty in Glasgow. Most of the men in Easterhouse hadn't had a job in 20 years. They were dispirited, depressed, often alcoholic. Their self-esteem had gone.
Some commentators now argue that social exclusion is as serious a problem as material poverty.
Clearly there are some very practical reasons why governments should treat the problems of loneliness and alienation seriously. The origins of these problems lie in the extraordinary wave of social change which swept through Western societies in the 1960s and 1970s. Driven by powerful forces of technological change such as television and the pill, this surge of change was profoundly individualistic in nature. Most of the major causes which characterised the youth revolt of this era, such as sexual freedom, anti-conscription, feminism and gay liberation, were driven primarily by powerful notions of individual rights. The prevailing material affluence of the period con tributed to the emergence of a new ethos of personal consumption and experimentation.