Generation What?

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Generation What? is the name of a multimedia project and a study on the age groups 1982 to 1998 in the European Union , which are often also assigned to Generation Y. 1,000,141 young adults who were 18 to 34 years old during the survey period took part in the study, 180,000 of them in Germany by March 2017. Generation What? was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and accompanied in Germany by Bavarian Broadcasting together with ZDF and SWR . The German broadcasters worked closely with the Sinus Institute .

Since April 11, 2016, participants have had the opportunity to visit the Generation What? Participate in the survey in their national language (e.g. Swiss citizens could participate via the German, Austrian, French or Italian side). The participants were not selected, but could register themselves. By August 1, 2016, 212,656 people across Europe took part in the survey, leaving a maximum of 20 of the 149 questions unanswered (41,055 of them in Germany). The day is important as only answers that had been submitted up to this day were included in the German final report of November 11, 2016. However, the results were updated online in real time until spring 2017.

The study is considered representative because a representative quota sample was drawn from all participants according to the characteristics of age, gender, education and region (41,055 cases in Germany). The population of the study for Germany is the German-speaking resident population aged 18 to 34 years.

Language regulation

The target group is called “young Europeans” by the initiators of the study. The affected year cohorts are largely identical to those that some sociologists call “ Generation Y ”. The term “ youth ” is often used in discussions of the study . The resulting connotation that young people are included in the sense of the Youth Protection Act and other German laws (or the laws of other German-speaking countries) is wrong, as only people who were at least 18 years old were allowed to take part in the survey. Unless young people gave false information about themselves, all respondents were “young adults”.

history

The Generation What? is a further development of the French project «Génération Quoi?», which was carried out in 2013. Broadcasters in ten other countries carry Generation What? as a follow-up project to “Génération Quoi?” in Belgium , Germany , Italy , Ireland , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Austria , Spain , the Czech Republic and Wales . For the Arab world, an offshoot of the Generation What? designed. Young adults in Algeria , Egypt , Jordan , Lebanon , Libya , Morocco , Palestine and Tunisia were interviewed for six months in late 2017 and early 2018.

Aim and purpose of the survey

From the point of view of ARD , a major problem for the public broadcasters in Europe is that they “have largely lost contact with young people. Their program mostly just reflects their aging audience, and they don't know what young people think and what makes them tick. This applies to the (documentary) film sector and to the web anyway. The most direct solution would be to simply ask the youth and give them the opportunity to explain and present themselves. This is exactly the path that twelve European television stations are now taking, coordinated by the EBU, with the multimedia project 'Generation What?'. "

In order to achieve the goal of reaching as many young people as possible, according to the project manager, the Sinus Institute decided not to design a “purely scientific study”, but instead used multi-media effects.

Results

Europe (overall result)

The study is divided into the complexes “Work and Education”, “Trust in Institutions”, “Society”, “Europe”, “Family”, “Sex” and “Looking to the Future”, each of which is devoted to a chapter.

Work and education

Roughly the same number of young Europeans stated that work for them primarily serves to earn a living or to achieve self-realization. The latter answer was given by 56 percent of the highly educated. The aspect of self-actualization is much more important for southern Europeans than for other Europeans. A majority of respondents consider the work they are currently doing to be “important” or “very important”. The answer to the latter question correlates strongly with an optimistic or pessimistic view of the future. 33 percent of those in employment think that their current job does not match their qualifications, 57 percent consider themselves underpaid.

The answer to the question of whether domestic over foreign workers should be given preference in times of crisis is answered very differently in different countries. While 58 percent of young Austrians answered the question in the affirmative, the percentage among Germans is only 24 percent.

Young Europeans sharply criticize the education system in their country. Only in Switzerland are more than 3 percent of them of the opinion that this prepares them well for the national job market. 59 percent of young Europeans believe that their country's education system is socially unjust. 87 percent say that social inequality is increasing in their country. Except in the Netherlands there is a majority everywhere in favor of the demand that the state should finance training or studies.

Trust in institutions

In particular, the widespread distrust of young Europeans towards institutions caused a stir in the public eye:

In no European country do more than 3 percent of those questioned express their full confidence in religious institutions. 85 percent think that they could be happy without believing in God. There is also a majority of the remaining 15 percent who view religious institutions with suspicion.

Only in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands is there a majority of young adults who fully or largely trust the judiciary in their country. In countries with high national debt, young people tend to distrust not only the judiciary but also the police.

Across Europe, 82 percent of those surveyed have no confidence in politics. Only one percent completely trusts politics. A tendency towards fatalism correlates with the distrust of politics. 63 percent complain that society does not give them the opportunity to “show what is really in them”. 31 percent of young Europeans are open to involvement in a political party or an NGO. The ranking of countries that resulted from the question of trust in politics is almost identical to the corruption perception index of Transparency International . In Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, i.e. countries with the lowest corruption perception index, trust in political institutions is highest. Conversely, countries with high unemployment among young people have the lowest levels of trust in politics.

79 percent of those questioned say that they do not trust “the media”.

society

When asked about the most pressing problems, 37 percent of young Europeans named unemployment in their country, 36 percent the state of the environment. 27 percent consider the education system to be problematic. Less than 20 percent of those surveyed named economic crises, affordable housing, the health system and the pension issue as pressing problems.

Policy fields such as nuclear policy are assessed extremely differently. The evaluation of unemployment also correlates strongly with the youth unemployment rate in the country concerned (e.g. only 22 percent of young Germans consider unemployment to be a pressing problem). Immigration is also rated extremely differently: 80 percent of young Germans consider immigration to be an asset, while only 51 percent of young Czechs see it that way (and 55 percent of young Austrians). 6 percent of young Europeans believe that their country's borders should be opened to “nobody”, 36 percent to “everyone”. However, the majority of young Europeans (with the exception of Switzerland) observe “performance sneaks” in their country. The majority thinks their country is unfair and the financial system rules the world.

The circle of friends of the respondents is heterogeneous in terms of education (62 percent) and social background (51 percent). The young Europeans surveyed are least likely to distinguish their friends in terms of their cultural (36 percent) or ethnic (37 percent) origin.

Despite the tendency towards fatalism in some milieus of young Europeans, the researchers recognize a high willingness to protest among those questioned who were unable to develop their personal potential. Two thirds of the young French, Spaniards and Italians would be willing to take part in an uprising against "those in power" in the near future.

Europe (subject)

11 percent of young Europeans identify most with the quality of being European. Mostly they see themselves as patriots or local patriots. On the other hand, 65 percent of young Europeans rate the increasing nationalism in Europe negatively. The vast majority of those living in EU countries are against their country leaving the EU, although there are widespread reservations about EU policies. The main argument put forward by those in favor of their country remaining in the EU is that the EU provides “easy mobility for travel, work and study”.

family

The members of Generation What? in Europe, the majority have no serious problems with their parents. Almost half (47 percent) are of the opinion that their relationship with their parents is relaxed, 22 percent even find it ideal. However, half of young Europeans believe that previous generations are responsible for the problems that affect them. However, only 14 percent of those surveyed stated that their parents did not support them in their projects. Particularly in countries with economic problems and lower social benefits, it is mostly parents who help their children financially, a situation that the younger generation, especially in countries north of the Alps, perceive as stressful.

The question of whether one can lead a happy life without children is answered differently in the European countries (75 percent "yes" answers in Italy, 42 percent in Greece).

sex

For three quarters of young Europeans, sex is part of a happy life, for a quarter it is not. 29 percent of women and 22 percent of men answered “no”. The corresponding proportion decreases with increasing age.

It is said that 36 percent have had sex with strangers and 20 percent are open to such experiences. 15 percent of those surveyed say they have had sex with more than one person, and 43 percent say that they have already used a sex toy.

view in the future

Only a little less than 10 percent are completely optimistic or completely pessimistic; a slightly larger proportion are optimistic (54 percent) than pessimistic (43 percent). Young people with a low level of education (13 percent) are twice as likely to be very pessimistic as those with a high level of education (7 percent). There are no gender differences here. Young people in southern Europe are more likely to be pessimistic than in northern Europe.

Few young Europeans believe they will be better off than their parents. Optimists assume they can maintain their standard of living, pessimists cannot. In no participating country do more than a third of the respondents believe that their children will be better off than themselves; This belief is most widespread in countries where respondents have been hard hit by the economic crisis.

All in all, the initiators of the study certify that the majority of young Europeans are “coping optimists”.

Germany

In the “Final Report Germany”, the authors highlight the following findings specific to Germany:

  • Despite extreme dissatisfaction with the structures and developments, the majority are (cautiously) optimistic about the future.
  • The young generation in Germany predominantly believes in “multiculturalism” and has little to do with nationalism.
  • The European Union appears useful to young Germans (only one in ten young Germans is in favor of Germany leaving the EU), but trust in it is low.
  • Young Germans are primarily concerned about social unrest (35 percent), then about their (own) financial situation and finally about the environment (= the German “TOP 3”).
  • The differences in attitudes between the highly and less educated are significantly greater in Germany than in other European countries.

Reception and criticism

A survey of young adults born between 1991 and 1999 by the Social Science Institute of the Evangelical Church in Germany , which was carried out in Germany in August 2018, confirmed the thesis that traditional forms of religiosity are dwindling among the youngest adults. The most striking result of the survey is the internalization of the sentence: “Everyone is the maker of their own happiness.” 87 percent of those questioned stated that life revolves around them and that they are responsible for everything that concerns them. When those concerned said “we”, they only meant their family and close circle of friends besides themselves, but not society, the economy or politics. Only 24 percent said they believed in God. One interviewee said literally: “I cannot believe in God, because if I think about it right, I am God myself. I am responsible for everything that happens in my life. There is nothing else. "

The " Kolping Magazine " acknowledges that "[t] he belief in God [...] among young people [sic!] Is becoming increasingly less important". “Those who go to church on Sundays are often the only youngsters far and wide.” The Catholic magazine doubts that “a life without religion is really happy”. The reasons that have made the church and faith unattractive to the majority of young people must be examined by the Catholic Church and lead to a new practice. Others criticize the fact that terms such as “religious institutions” allow a wide variety of interpretations by the respondents. You could, for example, B. also think of the Islamic State . Mistrust of such institutions is more than justified.

Reservations are also made about terms that are too general, such as “the media”, “politics” or “Europe” (as the acting subject or as a total of all EU norms). The Heise Online portal criticizes that "[t] he" media landscape "[...] is not even roughly separated into TV, radio, print and online". The fact that there is reason to distrust fake news is an important learning goal of media education. Maximilian von Schwartz believes that the criticism is justified in principle, but would rather try to find out in a renewed questioning whether there are individual sources for young Europeans that they trust by and large.

Heise Online further criticizes that there are no separate country pages for Scandinavian and post-communist countries (exception: the Czech Republic).

Finally, the suspicion of deception turns against the study itself: There was no control of the identity of the respondents. "Even as a Swiss woman over 34 you could log into the Irish country mask [and] claim that you are a 21-year-old Irishman [,] and then answer totally incompetent questions about Irish politics". It is also not clear how seriously answers (e.g. about the sex life of the respondents) should be taken.

When it comes to the question of how the rampant loss of confidence in various institutions can be stopped, there is a feeling of perplexity. Although low education correlates with low trust in politics, the effectiveness of political education is limited by the fact that mistrust increases with age among young adults. However, suspicious adults are difficult to reach for political education measures. With a majority of young Europeans saying they can be happy without television (but not without the Internet), attempts by public service broadcasters to attract young people to viewers have been helpless.

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung rejects the impression that young people are “troublemakers” in politics . Although there are European countries with strong sympathy among young people for right-wing or left-wing populists, three quarters of the British between the ages of 18 and 24 who took part in the referendum on Brexit voted for the United Kingdom to remain in the EU in 2016. “The young people [sic!] Are very aware of what the EU is for and why it is needed. At the same time and by no means naively, they reveal problems and point out the need for action. The future of Europe needs exactly this informed and critical optimism. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homepage of the project
  2. ^ Sinus Institute: Generation What? Europe report . 2016
  3. ↑ Marc Calmbach: Generation What? On the institutional trust of young people in Germany and Europe . Konrad Adenauer Foundation . March 14, 2017
  4. ↑ How does Generation What? . www.20min.ch. April 11, 2016
  5. ↑ Generation What: About Generation What?
  6. ↑ Generation What: Arab Generation What?
  7. ↑ Generation What? arabic . euneighbours.eu
  8. ↑ Martin Kowalczik: Generation what? How does young Europe tick? . In: Top of the Docs - Documentations in ARD 2015/16 . Program Directorate First German Television. January 27, 2016, p. 22 f.
  9. ↑ Goethe-Institut USA: Study “Generation What?” - “Loss of trust does not mean resignation” . Interview with Maximilian von Schwartz. 2017
  10. ↑ Research group Weltanschauungen in Germany (fowid): Generation What? - Happy without God . April 13, 2017
  11. ↑ Goethe-Institut USA: Study “Generation What?” - “Loss of trust does not mean resignation” . Interview with Maximilian von Schwartz. 2017
  12. ↑ Meedia: Largest European youth study “Generation What?”: Young people hardly trust the media and institutions . 5th April 2017
  13. ↑ "What goes on in society, they hardly care". Interview with Gerhard Wegner . In: Chrismon . Edition 02.2019, pp. 60–63
  14. ↑ Ulf Endewardt / Gerhard Wegner: What determines my life? I! - The worlds of life and beliefs of young people today . Social Science Institute of the Evangelical Church in Germany. November 2018. 42 pp. ISBN 978-3-9465250-5-9 ( online )
  15. ↑ Church is totally uncool ?! . Kolping magazine . 7th September 2017
  16. ↑ Gerald Kretzschmar: “There is nothing there! Or is it? ”- The empirical perception of religiosity and ecclesiasticality of young people as reflected in church-theoretical considerations . Association of Protestant Student Congregations in Germany (ESD). P. 5f.
  17. ↑ Thomas Pany: “Generation what?”: The suspicious “young Europe” . Telepolis . 5th April 2017
  18. ↑ Simone Meier : Sex? Drink? What “Generation What” is really about . bento.de. April 14, 2016
  19. ↑ Marc Calmbach: Generation What? On the institutional trust of young people in Germany and Europe . Konrad Adenauer Foundation. March 14, 2017
  20. ↑ Moritz Sommer: The “Generation Crisis” is the future of Europe . Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. May 3, 2017