Second annual publication of findings from Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study. 'Understanding society' is a major social science investment in longitudinal studies with potentially huge long-term implications for social science and other research and for the understanding of the UK in the early twenty-first century. It provides valuable new evidence about the people of the UK, their lives, experiences, behaviours and beliefs, and enables an unprecedented understanding of diversity within the population. Its longitudinal design, in which the study aims to collect data at annual intervals from all adult members of around 40,000 households, as well as young people aged 10-15, gives a particular insight into how their lives change, how past events affect future outcomes and how far people are able to realise their aspirations.
