The myth of a single generation

New generations are often associated with prejudices and images. These easily turn into beliefs, but they are rarely true. These beliefs regularly rear their heads in the speeches of the public and politicians alike.

These beliefs suggest that we young people are a drug-avoiding, red-green, environmentally conscious bunch, simply enjoying the prosperity created by the baby boomers. Instead of traditional influence, young people only want to make a difference through demonstrations, shopping fairs and social media. However, assumptions and ideas about young people and the single generation are often not grounded in truth.

In recent years, many young people have become more value-hardened. In 2016, the Youth Research Centre found that some young people had adopted a neoliberal and nationalist values culture. In this spring's youth elections, several candidates from the Finns Party were on the ballot, and the party received almost as much support as the "youth party" Greens. The traditional major parties, including the SDP, dubbed the party of pensioners, won more support than the Left Alliance, which has built a youthful profile. The Alliance's 2018 Party Gallup reveals that there are also differences between genders. More than 40% of women supported the Greens, while men's responses showed that the Coalition Party, the Finns and the Centre Party were ahead of the Greens.

Although party membership is declining and young people are interested in new ways of influencing society, a large proportion of young people still value the traditional institutions of our society and voting is by far the most important way of influencing it. According to the latest Youth Barometer, trust in Parliament has grown throughout the 2000s, and more than half of respondents also trust political parties. The general interest in politics is also at an all-time high.

A third example related to politics is the climate debate and the strong belief in the will of young people to solve environmental problems. However, in a survey by the Foundation for Local Government Development, only half of young people aged between 18 and 30 felt that a debate on climate change was necessary, the same result as for those aged over 60. Around a third of young people saw the whole debate as unnecessary hype. For example, despite climate laws and the bunny rabbit tree, only less than 0.5% of some 20,000 conscripts opted for a vegetarian diet.

Alongside differences of opinion, young people's unity is also undermined by inequality, despite economic growth. Some have access to top international education - others do not even learn adequate literacy skills at primary school. At the same time, a growing number of young people are excluded from society. Social polarisation is also reflected in substance abuse. Although statistics show that alcohol consumption among young people has been falling, the distribution of consumption is such that some young people lead completely sober lives, while others take drugs on behalf of a friend.

Many of the attributes and unifying factors associated with young people are ultimately found to be false. Generalisations cannot be completely avoided and are also necessary in the structuring of social phenomena. At worst, however, they produce simplistic analyses that are misleading. Therefore, when talking about young people, it is worth remembering that the idea of a single generation and the generalisations that are attached to it are often without a basis in truth.

Simo Rissanen

The author was born in the 1990s and works as a consultant at Blic.