Generation Z, that enigmatic demographic of men and women born between 1997 and 2012 or so, have been presumed to hold wildly progressive views. [emphasis, links added]
In the stereotype of public imagination this is – or has been – a group that will go to the wall for net zero, dump a partner if their views on gender politics give them the “ick”, or leave any job that has the temerity to demand their presence in the office.
Except it may not be true.
A growing mass of evidence suggests that far from the Leftie snowflake cohort of lore, Gen Z are disparate in their politics and care about the same things older generations do – jobs, houses, security – more than culture wars or social issues.
A landmark report from the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University, published this week, has added to this feeling.
Working with the polling company Focaldata, the institute conducted 260 interviews with people aged 18 to 29, using those conversations to inform a 40-question poll of 2,039 young people across the country.
Contrary to what may have been expected, it found that Gen Z are more worried about crime than the environment, surprisingly split on the benefits of migration, and focused on jobs, housing and family above all.
“It goes back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,” says Eddie Barnes, the director of the John Smith Centre.
“The bottom of that triangle is basics (including food, water, shelter, sleep, housing, health, finances). That’s where the younger generation [is]. This is a generation that has not had much in the way of wage growth, they’ve had extremely high housing costs, and financial insecurity.
“Those, not culture war issues, are the top priorities. What do people care about? It’s the financial stuff. Crime ranks much more highly than the environment, which was a big surprise.”
When asked what the biggest contributors were to them feeling “nervous, anxious or on edge”, respondents replied: “financial worries” (37 per cent), “work pressures” (23 per cent) and “job security or unemployment” (20 per cent). Climate change languished on 10 per cent. […snip…]
The “most important issues facing the UK today” were inflation and the cost of living, health care, housing and crime. Only 20 per cent said climate change and the environment.
The figure is down on a global survey from 2019, which found that 41 per cent of young people thought climate change was more pressing than anything else.
The poll carried out for the John Smith report did not ask a specific question about the pandemic, but Barnes says it came up in focus groups conducted as part of the research.
“There was a feeling Covid was yet another thing that had damaged young people’s upbringing,” he says. “One young person said, ‘We’ll never get that time back’. There wasn’t bitterness or anger, but a feeling of lament.”
Whatever the various causes, the result is a generation apparently more hardened to economic reality than millennials.
“Home ownership and the economy are far more important than climate change,” says 25-year-old Oliver Freeston, a Reform councillor from Lincolnshire.
“Climate change is natural, it’s been happening for thousands of years. If we have this crazy drive to net zero, it’s going to bankrupt the country. It’s not lowering bills, it’s increasing them. For young people it’s already tough with stagnating wages and a high tax burden. We don’t need it to be made any harder.”
Top photo by Limbo Hu on Unsplash
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