Will Generation Z Lean Conservative or Liberal? It’s Not That Simple

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Will Generation Z Lean Conservative or Liberal? It’s Not That Simple

It might be time for the Millennial media obsession to wind down as a new generation inches up in age and takes their first baby steps into the workforce. I’m talking about Generation Z, the next demographic cohort after the Millennials. While there is no set consensus on when this generation begins, it is commonly believed that members of Generation Z were born between 1998 and 2001. That makes the oldest among them 16 to 19 years old. And the youngest? That remains to be seen because “as of yet there is little to no consensus about ending birth years.” It’s important to note that generational lines are not based on science, so clear definitions are not always available.

 

Generation Z

At 16 to 19 years old, many Americans are already working, or just getting started. Organizations are wise to start looking at their future workforce, especially because as of now Gen Z are 22% of the population and growing. Research conducted on this generation is intriguing.

An interesting question raised about Generation Z concerns their predicted political leanings. In particular, will Generation Z be the most conservative or liberal generation in decades? Let’s take a look at both sides of the spectrum:

Generation Z: Conservative?

Generation Z

  • A 2016 American study found that while only 18% of Millennials attended church, church attendance was 41% among Generation Z.
  • Polls found eight out of ten members of Gen Z considered themselves “fiscally conservative.”
  • In certain areas, Generation Z is more risk-averse than the Millennials. In 2013, 66% of teenagers had tried alcohol, down from 82% in 1991.
  • A 2016 study done by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that Generation Z had lower teen pregnancy rates, less substance abuse, and higher on-time high school graduation rates compared to Millennials.
  • Business Insider describes Generation Z as more conservative, more money-oriented, more entrepreneurial and pragmatic about money compared to Millennials. This make sense considering members of Generation Z have watched their parents live through the second worst economic decline in American history (starting in 2008), and have witnessed the aftermath of mass layoffs and rampant foreclosures.
  • One British study conducted by global consultancy firm, The Guild, found Gen Z participants ten times more likely than Millennials to dislike tattoos and body piercings.

What we see here are some hallmarks of conservatism—risk averse when it comes to drugs and alcohol, significantly higher church attendance than the previous generation, conservative about money, prioritizing stability, pragmatic, and less interested in what is commonly associated with “fringe” behavior.

But it’s not that simple. Those who want to take these Generation Z findings and blanket them as largely conservative are ignoring other key aspects of the generation. For example:

Generation Z: Liberal?

Generation Z

  • Gen Z is more diverse than any generation. Frank N. Magid estimates that Gen Z is 55% Caucasian, 24% Hispanic, 14% African American, 4% Asian and 4% mixed race or other. He also states that Gen Z exhibits positive feelingsabout ethnic diversity in the U.S. and is more likely than older generations to have social circles that include different ethnic groups, races, and religions. This makes them more sympathetic to movements regarding racism, such as Black Lives Matter, and less tolerant for institutionalized discrimination against different religions, ethnic groups or immigrants.
  • Generation Z is more liberal in areas like marijuana legalization, and transgenderissues, according to a study done by The Gild. 56% of 13-to-20-year-olds said that they knew someone who went by gender neutral pronouns such as “they,” “them,” or “ze,” compared to 43% of people aged 28 to 34 years old, according to the results of the Innovation Group’s major new study. Over a third of Gen Z respondents also strongly agreed that gender did not define a person as much as it used to. This figure dropped to 23% among Millennials who were 28 and up.
  • 75% of Gen Z support same sex marriage. They’re more likely to have grown up around same sex parents, and therefor don’t see this as unusual—or illegal.
  • 76% are concerned about global warming. This makes sense considering the amount of environmental disasters they’ve witnessed so far, including the 2013 Colorado forest fires (most destructive wildfire in history,) tornado in Joplin, Missouri in 2011 (single deadliest tornado in US history since advent of modern weather forecasting,) the flooding devastating Mississippi river valley (one of largest and most damaging floods recorded in past century,) and much more.
  • It has been reported that Generation Z are, “the least likely to believe that there is such a thing as the American Dream.”
  • Having grown up bombarded by mass shootings in their own country, and terrorist attacks overseas, this generation more likely supports gun control.

These findings paint the picture of a more liberal ideology with environmental concern, support for gay marriage and transgender rights, inherent acceptance of diversity, and supportive view of legalizing marijuana.

It’s Time to Rethink What Divides Us

Generation Z

So which is it? How do we categorize a generation that presents common ideals of both conservatives and liberals? Maybe we don’t. Maybe we need to rethink what it is to be “conservative” and “liberal” and consider that in the future the distinction will be different. This generation just might disrupt the huge US bipartisan divide we are experiencing now. And maybe we would be better for it.

Do you have personal experience with members of Generation Z? What have you noticed about them? I’d love to hear your perspective. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

 

 

 

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36 Comments

  1. Diego
    August 26, 2017

    As a Hispanic Male of Generation Z and also an observer of my fellow schoolmates I have noticed, although we do enjoy ethnic diversity, we strongly dislike groups Black Lives Matter and feminism. We as a majority have deemed them as racist, sexist, hypocrites and “Cancer”. I know I can not speak for every single high schol but the one I attend is more right leaning. Everyday I am happy to discuss with my classmates on how stupid the ANTIFA movement is and how “Tolerant” they really are. We bring up Winston Churchill’s quote “The facists of the future will be called anti-facists” We are more focused on money I will agree with you on that

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      October 11, 2017

      Hi Diego, I appreciate you sharing your perspective and experience here. Very interesting, and always great to hear directly from the generation I am writing about!

      Reply
      • Maryam
        October 16, 2017

        Hi,
        I am also part of Gen Z and we are definitely socially liberal. Not sure where Diego goes to school, but at my school most people support BLM, feminism, LGBT rights, etc… And on the internet as well, Gen Z kids are, without a doubt, more aware of political issues than previous generations and more liberal, at least socially. I will agree that we are more fiscally conservative because of events like the Great Recession.
        Thanks.

        Reply
        • Anne Loehr
          October 17, 2017

          Hi Maryam, I’m happy to hear a different perspective on your generation. It’s pretty amazing what the Internet has done for political awareness, isn’t it? Thanks for your valuable comment– looking forward to seeing how Gen Z entering the workforce will impact the future of work– and society!

          Reply
          • Anthony
            November 9, 2017

            I know that growing up watching my news from mostly independent sources like Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, and Paul Joseph Watson, my outlook is much further right than my millennial counterparts. He call them SJW’s and crybabies. We are the first generation to discover these truths as we hardly got ANY of our information from the mainstream outlets. BLM and Antifa are seen rightfully as terrorists and we aren’t apologetic about our history. We aren’t just here in America, we are almost more relevant in Europe where we experienced the Eurozone crisis and Migration Crisis. Terrorism, financial hardship, and depraved culture has shaped us into what we are and given us a great role model: How not to run our lives.

  2. Sean Kraus
    October 19, 2017

    I’m a Gen Z college freshman and despite being close in age to many sophomores and young juniors I feel extremely marginalized when it comes to social and political opinions. Fiscally I’m a firm believer that hard work enables (not entitles) people and that the beauty of the United States is that you can go from having nothing and slowly build yourself up from the dust. I’m also less likely to support social justice, the ridiculous idea that there are more than two genders, and that “socialism is the future of American economics.”

    I’m constantly butting heads with millennials because they are on the far-left extreme and can’t seem to shut up and hear out other people’s arguments and beliefs, essentially creating an idealogicql echo chamber where nothing gets solved.

    Somebody mentioned above that our generation finds social justice groups and third wave feminism to be obnoxiousand I completely agree, and I believe that we think that way because diversity and classical gender equality theories have become so integrated in social media that in our minds it’s an afterthought that is less important than the individual. I’ve never seen blatant racism in my age group and when asked how many black/white/hispanic friends I have I have a hard time counting because to me individual friendships are more important than filling a race quota (which I’m sure I’ve filled for those who ask.)

    In my mind Gen Z is the most moderate generation in a long time and probably will be a significant milestone in creating a nation that would make Thomas Jefferson shed a tear.

    Reply
  3. Abraham Frost
    October 20, 2017

    I think the rise of conservative counter-media in the form of highly intelligent conservatives and classical liberals like Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, and their ilk has pushed Gen-Z to the right. It’s “cool” to be a conservative.. I go to a very liberal school, but our conservatives are very strong and outspoken. Part of it is learning how to make intelligent arguments on their own, and part of it is probably factors we’ve grown up with (the economic things you mention in your article). I’d also make the argument that Gen-Z conservatives are far more open minded, just based off my experiences. At my school we’re exposed to liberal POVs every day, so we understand the roots of the thinking of the liberals. Many/most of our friends are probably libs too. The reason I say open-minded is that b/c we see the issue from so many POVs, whereas it’s far easier to stay inside a liberal bubble in our area. You can just have liberal friends and be fine. This leads to going from THINKING they’re right to KNOWING they’re right, b/c no one has ever challenged their beliefs. I’m in a Gov class right now, and I seriously heard the phrase “white men need to sit down and shut up” directed at me. At the same time, many of the libs in my Gov class are coming around to my side on a lot of issues, which showcases THEIR open-mindedness. All in all this is a pretty great article. I think you hit a lot of good points, but I’d put my money on gen-Z being conservative.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      November 17, 2017

      Hi Abraham,

      Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. It’s really thought provoking. I was surprised to read it’s “cool” to be conservative. I had no idea! Also really interesting to read your perspective on the conservatives you know being more open-minded because it isn’t as east to stay in your own little bubble. Thanks again for sharing your experience.

      Reply
      • Dan Dan
        November 24, 2017

        Yeah, I feel alot of people from my generation feel like its ‘cool’ to be a conservative. I know quite a few liberals and quite a few conservatives. From what I’ve seen honestly, traditional conservatism seems to be dying and libertaranism seems to be on the rise. But yeah, I think alot of people just find it ‘cool’ to disagree with liberals

        Reply
  4. Garry
    October 25, 2017

    Born in 1998, I’m not exactly sure which generation I should be considered to be a part of. Having recently graduated highschool, I can say that the environment in the school I went to was highly divided. On one hand, we had the administration, which was definitely very left leaning. And some students hopped on board with the administration’s approach, and flourished. Other students, mostly white males like myself and some minorities (also mainly males) felt forgotten. So, we rebeled. (If you’ve ever herd of Milo Yiannopoulos, he was our hero.) We liked being “edgy” and being provocatuers as opposed to “the other side” which pushed to continue what Millenials had done before us. The only similarity between the opposing groups was that they wanted to provoke social change. The only difference was our methods. (As a side note, I do not condone 12 year olds who say they love Hitler just to offend people.) But now, looking back, I can’t fully align myself with either side. Both ends of the spectrum twist and exaggerate the other side’s position to “expose” them as haters or hyppocrites. And I still can’t decide whether or not I regret my decision to vote for Donald Trump.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      November 17, 2017

      Wow– thank you so much for sharing your perspective.

      Reply
  5. Quinn
    October 31, 2017

    Yeah, there is not very people in my generation who I know at least that are socially liberal.

    Reply
  6. Caleb
    November 1, 2017

    I’m pretty sure what you have just described can be called libertarian. They are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. It seems to me that many in generation z hate political correctness and feminism but also generally pro LGBT rights. Maybe it’s different where you are but that’s just my two cents.

    Reply
  7. Elvis
    November 10, 2017

    I think it’s too early to say whether gen Z are more liberal or more conservative than millennials. Most gen Z are still children under the age of 18 and thus their political and social views are highly affected by their parents (who are mostly gen X individuals who tend to be more conservative than millennials). I predict that they will be liberal just because it seems that every generation is more liberal than the last. However, we won’t know until at least half of gen Z are adults who live independently whose political and social views are not as influenced by their parents. Maybe in 5 or 10 years we’ll have a better idea of which way that generation is leaning.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      November 17, 2017

      Hello,

      Thank you for your comment. I agree with you… life experience definitely influences political and social views, so the more life experience the younger generation has, the more they will evolve. It will definitely be interesting to think back in five or ten years to these comments, and what was predicted.

      Reply
  8. Isaac Chang
    November 28, 2017

    My personal experience is that in my school, we have a pretty politically active population who voted like this in our class election. 44% Clinton. 34% Trump, 18% Johnson, 3% Stein and 1% Other/Decline to State. I cast mine for Other. Our liberal base is made up of a mainly Asian population of nerdy kids who follow the news. Our Conservatives are more mixed and like Trumps populist appeal. Majority of us are appalled by his tweets. We believe in fiscal responsibility, but want Medicare of All, and in Government, we decided that we should cut military spending.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      November 29, 2017

      Hi Issac,

      Thank you for your insight. This info is great– and definitely speaks to a generation that is changing the traditional distinction of liberal vs. conservative.

      Have a great rest of the year!
      Anne

      Reply
      • Isaac Chang
        February 10, 2018

        Also I may add that the majority of a who are old enough to vote, voted for Ralph Northam in the 2017 US Elections.

        Reply
  9. Lili
    December 7, 2017

    Hi Anne,
    I found your article very interesting – it’s always fascinating to read about different perspectives on my generation. I’m not from the US, so I thought it’d be good to offer my view on the matter (as my friends and I generally keep up with global politics and debate on global social issues). I personally go to a school whereby we are largely aligned with liberal ideologies, though this may differ in other schools. For instance, we are in support of feminism, same-sex marriage (even though it’s currently illegal here), and generally accepting of people who identify as a gender different from traditional norms. Although, this could also be attributed to our country’s beliefs and values. We are brought up to believe in racial equality as our racial divide is not as strong as in other countries, so this could have played a part in the values we hold dear to us. As with Asian countries, my parents are generally more conservative – maybe even more than those in western countries. As a generation, I would say we have the most equally-balanced number of conservatives and liberals, and it’s going to be hard to tell at this point of time.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      December 7, 2017

      Hi Lili,

      Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. It is really valuable to hear from someone outside of the U.S! I appreciate your perspective. You reference your country’s values. What do you think are the top three values of your country? It’s interesting to think about that for the U.S. as well.

      Have a wonderful week/weekend!
      Anne

      Reply
  10. Gabbie
    December 20, 2017

    Hey there,
    I am a young teenage female in NYC who leans conservative on most issues (I know, crazy for a new yorker). While, obviously, most of the people at my school are liberal, the fact that there are many people like me in New York City is crazy to me. Many people that I talk to would consider themselves moderate, but whenever they talk to an SJW/feminist/BLM supporter, they are appalled, which makes me believe many young moderates will lean right of center. Some kids do like what the millennials are doing, but most don’t. In my opinion, Gen Z will be moderately conservative, but more anti liberal than anything.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      December 23, 2017

      Hi Gabbie! Thanks a lot for sharing your perspective. Interesting to hear this from a New Yorker!

      Reply
  11. Charlie
    January 14, 2018

    Gen z is more liberal we did a mock election in class last year and Hillary Clinton won the class election by a lot we support BLM gay marriage feminism marijuana legalization and we support immigrants and open borders the college student who are protesting are not millennial they are gen z.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      January 15, 2018

      Hi Charlie,

      Thank you so much for your comment. I’m happy to hear a different perspective.

      Best!
      Anne

      Reply
  12. Yves
    January 20, 2018

    I was born in 2000 so I guess that makes part of the “older” generation z’ers. Whilst I don’t live in the U.S and my country doesn’t exactly have a left vs right political system, our society is very influenced by U.S politics. My friends and I have sightly conservative beliefs when it comes to for example sexuality. We believe that there only 2 genders and that anything else is a mental illness, but we also don’t believe that people that are lgbt deserve to be discriminated against. We also are anti pc and like making racist jokes mostly due to the fact that we believe that comedy should never be taken seriously. Other teenagers do seem to be more liberal and pro BLM and pro feminist, but that’s mostly due to the fact that we get our outside news from more liberal media outlets, so I wouldn’t know how they would react if they would hear any other more conservative opinions. When it comes to religion many aren’t atheist, but they aren’t very religious either. Many teens can easily admit they aren’t church going. My generation, surprisingly, does seem to have an aversion to drugs, albeit they aren’t too scared to use alcohol now and then.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      January 22, 2018

      Hi Yves,

      Very interesting… thank you for sharing your experience. Do you mind telling us what country you live in? It’s okay if you prefer to keep that private.

      Have a great week
      Anne

      Reply
  13. Anonymous
    February 15, 2018

    I am a girl that is from another Asian country. I believe that when looking at my peers, it is indeed considered “cool” to oppose liberalism and the stupid things we might perceive that they do(such as the destruction of property during riots and feminism’s radicalism into misandry.) However, our parents hold very conservative viewpoints which makes us want to rebell them, which gives us a very pro western liberalism view point, I think many of my peers are socially and economically liberal, as a way to resist the West. I think this is also because of the spread of Western influence that we have grown up with, that is slowly morphing our society to a supposedly more progressive own. But I am an outlier, being quite economically and socially conservative and that isolated you, the people in my peer group also do not really believe in patriotism or nationalism (the pride for your own country type not the yucky Nazi one). This makes me rather worried for the future of my nation, and even more so, curious as to how these two extremes will play out within our society.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      March 5, 2018

      Hello,

      Great hearing from someone outside of the U.S. Thanks so much for sharing your perspective!

      Anne

      Reply
  14. Amanda
    February 17, 2018

    Here’s my take:
    As a child and teen my family moved around a lot. I’ve lived in Georgia, New York City, Upstate New York, Illinois, Texas, Alabama (briefly) and Florida. I’ve attended 12 different schools. What I noticed really depended on the parents of the child. The conservatives were almost always religious, and the liberals were usually atheist, Catholic, Muslim, or Jewish. Many of the atheists attended church because their parents forced them (I’d like to remind you that they’re kids) This may sound rude, but a lot of the liberals cared more for those around them and themselves, while the conservatives blamed others for what happened to others or themselves. They were, however, more laid-back. Surprisingly, they were the ones who drank alcohol and did drugs. I know this isn’t typical for the conservative idea, and I know it doesn’t apply to everyone, this is just what I noticed. The liberals supported legalizing the drugs the conservatives were using, but refused to use it themselves except for some. Economically, everyone wanted lower taxes and for the government to stop spending so much on the military and other things. Everyone also wanted gun control, but some liberals had more of a push for banning guns. I’d like to remind that it was in middle and high school when students were discussing this, and many shooting were happening at the time which led to this. Socially, a lot of them, liberal or not, they all believed everyone was equal, but hated terms like feminist or ally. It made them sound like SJWs, which there is a large stigma around. It was an odd split on whether or not there was more than one gender, because some thought it was OK to be non-binary, but everything else was BS. But in the case of feminism and racism, really they knew that men and women are equal, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc are equals. There was only some that I met who didn’t believe this, and those were all in Texas and Alabama. One of them, I hear, was arrested for a DUI and they discovered he was a pedophile and they found cocaine in his car. This was a boy I knew in middle school who was always cruel to his female and colored peers, and I just felt that was relevant in some way. Anyway, most of the kids I met were pro-LGBTQ and a good amount identified with it. It was amazing though, there were a lot of religious kids who said they didn’t believe in LGBTQ, but they didn’t care and supported the movement. I’ve never seen that in the millennial community or other groups. I think this generation is done with hate. They want a safer world but want to maintain their freedom. Also, not so many were against body piercings and tattoos. They said they didn’t care or that they were pretty, so i’d say most of them were indifferent. Many were indifferent on a lot of topics really. So yeah, this generation, i’d say, is in the middle. They want happiness (seen as many struggle with depression and anxiety) and they want an end to suffering and a beginning for equality. Safety and a good life for everyone, I think.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      March 5, 2018

      Hi Amanda,

      I loved hearing the perspective of someone who has lived in so many places! Thank you for sharing. You said a lot of interesting things, but what I want to bank on is, “I think this generation is done with hate.” That would be amazing.

      Thanks again!

      Reply
  15. paulo
    February 20, 2018

    When I was in high school (9 years ago), I consider myself conservative, I went to church every Sunday, was pro-life, anti-feminist and some how against legal homosexual marriage.

    Why? because I lived with my parents in a small town with no immigrant friends, then I went to college, learn economics, made friends from Iran, UK, Russia and other places.

    I am now very libertarian, the point is you do not know who you are until you go to college and/or live on your own, it is it until you are forced to pay your bills and yo see the government taking part of your paycheck that you said “well maybe less taxes and less gov expending is not a bad idea”. It is until you have a good female friend that marries the love of her life (also a female) that you said well who am I to tell others who to love. It is until you find an immigrant showing you pictures of the poor house were they used to live back in Nicaragua that you said OMG, no wonder you cross a river and 1000s of miles to come here.

    As a millennial from 1991 with friends from my generation and the next generation one thing i can tell you for sure is that all my friends want less expending on the army and more expending in our education.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      March 5, 2018

      Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! I agree with you– how can we really tell what a generation will be like based on who they are as teens? Of course it’s all just predictions… I really appreciate hearing about the changes you went through while being educated post-high school.

      Thanks again!
      Anne

      Reply
  16. Erin Glover
    March 4, 2018

    I’m a writer of young adult novels studying the iGens or Z Generation. I have interviewed dozens of teens and I have a 14-year-old son. I pay him and his best friend as consultants on my latest novel. This is what I’ve learned. The iGens are the least racist of any previous generation. My white son’s best friend is black. They regularly hang out at the mall and friends’ homes with Latinas, Latinos, African Americans and mixed race kids. The “date” other races. This is true even though both go to private mostly-white schools. They play basketball on an elite Denver team that is mostly African-American (even though African American make up only 12% of Denver’s population). They are the least homophobic of any previous generation. They hang out with a kid who has two moms and another who has two dads. It’s totally normal, unlike in my generation (I’m an older Gen Xer.) While they believe in equal rights for women, I’ve seen the boys bristle about the Women’s March. They don’t seem to like the special treatment for underserved groups, even where they are part of one. A number of the kids have successful working moms and seem not to understand workplace harassment and sexism. I’ve heard them making fun of a class they had where they were taught what constitutes harassment. “So Mom. If I draw a penis and show it to a girl, did you know that’s harassment?” My son was upset. His teammates are completely freaked out by the whole notion of believing the woman who cries rape, which frightens me. They’re more concerned about the youTube videos they’ve seen of the college athletes falsely accused of rape who lost their scholarships. We’ve had long talks about what constitutes consent and how to prove it (I’m a lawyer.) I’ve also noticed an intolerance about transgenders. Some I’ve talked to think it’s trendy. They have no tolerance of the idea of being trapped in the wrong body, yet couldn’t care less if someone is gay. I realize identity and orientation are different concepts but they make fun of the current increase in teens who are gender fluid. They think it’s a psychological phenomenon and not something you’re born with, like being gay. My son’s school has some kids with parents who voted for Trump which I’ve done my best to counteract. The income levels at both his school and his friend’s school are very high so that explains the Trump effect, but the schools themselves, and our families are liberal. I can’t explain how some of these iGens seem more conservative in certain areas than their parents do. Take marijuana even. It’s legal here in Colorado. The kids I’ve talked to don’t care. Sure, it should be legal. It’s just that they’re not that into drugs. So, their liberal about legalizing, but conservative about using. I listen to their music. Always rebellious hip-hop and often misogynistic, unless it’s Kendrick Lamar. A lot of it is really depressing. It’s difficult to make conclusions. The iGens (Z Generation) is much more tolerant about many more things than previous generations. As I said, they are the least racist, least homophobic, least sexist generation ever. But they have these odd conservative quirks about trusting women not to cry rape, and about the rationality of gender fluidity. I’m bookmarking your blog because I want to follow the comments. Thanks for letting me speak.

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      March 5, 2018

      Hi Erin!

      Wow, thank you so much for your comment. Super interesting! I have to say, a lot of the comments on this blog surprised me. I loved reading what you’ve learned.

      Good luck with your book!

      Anne

      Reply
  17. Neno Lucan
    March 27, 2018

    I’m from Germany actually, but I closely follow US politics ever since the 2016 elections which sparked my interest in politics in general.
    I was born in 1998 and the trends in Germany (or I guess Western Europe) are similar as in the US.
    You already summarized it quite well in your article Ms Loehr(which is probably a German surname 😉 ) so I can only give a European take on Generation Z.
    I believe Generation Z will be/is a mix of the left and right on the political spectrum (especially in the US with the polarizing two party sytem). Having the power of the internet on our side, it is getting harder and harder to manipulate people in order to force an agenda on them, due to the abundance of information on any given topic.
    However , our generation should be careful of biased information, but I think people are getting sick of extreme views (SJW’s, ultra conservatice neocons,etc.) and bashing the other side instead of finding common ground and looking for the most logical, beneficial and most importantly true solution to differing views.
    I think labels such as liberal and conservative won’t bear such huge importance anymore , but the focus will shift on what’s objectively best for everyone.
    For example:
    – the very real threat of climate change
    -corruption (money in politics is the core problem of today’s democracies )
    – terrorism, radicalists or any extreme political views
    -economic instability
    -etc, etc

    All those topics concern every single one of us and I think (or hope) the youngest Generation will free itself from the political game and simply take the objectively best from either side. Just because one would be considered liberal ,doesn’t mean one can’t hold conservative views on other specific topics and vice versa.

    Thanks again for the informative article!

    Reply
    • Anne Loehr
      April 19, 2018

      Hello,

      You make excellent points. I do hope people can see more objectively that we have some major issues to address that are shared.

      Unfortunately, though the Internet does make a lot of information available to people, it is also an excellent way to manipulate people and enables a dangerous “group think”. And it doesn’t seem that everyone is curious or willing to put the time in to really read various perspectives. It’s really a shame. We still have people denying climate change!

      I do hope being labeled as conservative or liberal becomes less common. People and their beliefs are complex– there’s no way to fit them into two categories.

      Thanks so much for your comment and insight!

      Reply

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