How do you solve a problem like Gen Z?
Gen Z have wildly different, often contradictory views compared with older cohorts. As they become a more significant cultural and political force, it’s worth trying to figure out what they really want, says John Oxley
Unpatriotic yet prudish. Radically liberal yet socially conservative. A new generational survey has shown Gen Z to be a complex cohort, with views and attitudes wildly different to those even a decade or so older than them. As they become more of a cultural and political force, that could have significant effects on the way the country works and present a real challenge for those who want to curry their electoral favour. There’s a chance it could build new methods of politics altogether.
Some things were perhaps predictable. Adults aged 18-27 are more in favour of trans rights than any other cohort and are largely in favour of decriminalising drugs. They are also fairly down on Britain, with less than half proud of the country. Many think it is racist, stuck in the past, and only 11 per cent would choose to fight for the nation if she were threatened. These views are striking but perhaps predictable for a liberal and iconoclastic youth.
Their own personal lives, however, are deeply conservative. They report drinking far less than their equivalents two decades ago, with more teetotallers than any other generation. Only a quarter of the respondents reported that their friends had one-night stands (compared with four-fifths 20 years ago) and thought marriage was more important than their millennial forebears did.
A generation afraid
If there is any coherence here, it is perhaps a sense that Gen Z is a generation afraid. They are timid about upsetting or offending and too afraid to take risks in their personal lives. This starts to speak to a new form of politics, rooted in risk aversion for yourself and conflict avoidance for society. Less entrepreneurial, more defensive, but hands-off when it comes to other people’s choices. This kicks back against the usual stereotype in British politics, where there is barely a ban voters don’t approve of – until it targets things they enjoy.
Yet there are other undercurrents among Gen Z that we should consider, too. They are deeply disaffected with modern institutions. They are, far more than before, rejecting established political parties – splitting to Reform on the right and the Greens on the left. The cohort also tends to report disillusionment with democracy itself. Though recent polls have perhaps overstated the extent to which the young crave a dictatorship, repeated surveys show they feel the current system isn’t delivering for them.
This creates an interesting contradiction. Younger voters seem more interested in radical, systemic change but also lack the risk tolerance to go out and force it. There’s a real question of which instinct will overwhelm the other – will they move towards something more daring, forcing change they want to benefit from or hold back, still cowed by this sort of personal conservatism?
For political parties, a challenge lies in how to harness this. Gen Z will become a more influential part of the electorate in coming decades, especially if plans to expand suffrage to 16–18-year-olds come through. None of our existing political parties seem to cater for them well or to have really reckoned with the societal shift that this new generation brings. With our politics already in flux, and real challenges facing us, Gen Z could play a role in radically shaping the future. Only both we and them have to figure out what they really want.
John Oxley is a political commentator and associate fellow at Bright Blue