How Young People Are Changing the World
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-salzman/how-young-people-are-chan_b_446976.html
Marian Salzman
President of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR
Posted: February 2, 2010
The opinions of young adults--which today have solidified into
values--are not to be ignored. Not only are people in their 20s
powerful voices within their communities, but they're also consumers.
These first adults of the millennial generation (roughly, the people
born between 1981 and 2000) are bellwethers for a group that's
already estimated to earn more than $200 billion a year, of which
they spend about $127 billion in the U.S. alone.
With this generation's population vastly outstripping that of its
predecessors, the baby boomers and Gen Xers, it's not just spending
power but also the ability to influence others that matters,
especially as they're armed with the power of social media and
narrowcast communications. While the effusions of the Flower Power
generation could have been chalked up to irrelevant ranting, the
exhortations of today's youth--for companies to clean up their acts,
for the news media to be independent and for the privatization of
public services to stop--are socially significant and underpinned by
ethical meaning.
All this makes the results of the Global Youth Study important. The
extensive 38-country online survey of 15,844 people ages 23 to 28 was
fielded by SurveyShack in association with YouGovStone between July
2008 and December 2009. Its results will feed into the inaugural One
Young World summit, a global leadership forum for hundreds of young
leaders from the world's 192 countries taking place in London next week.
Corporate Power and Responsibility
In the study, 64 percent of respondents agreed with the statement
that "global corporations have too much power," and 81 percent agreed
that corporations "must behave in an ethical way." More than half
said business "can connect with people on a local level"--meaning
they believe improvement is possible.
Young people are increasingly calling the shots as rising executives
within global firms. They see an opportunity to improve business and
the quality of their work environments, and they're making that
change happen. And as young people increasingly sift out products not
just with price and quality in mind, but also based on ethical
metrics they apply to brands, they're manifesting their values in the
real world.
Independent News Media
For all the criticism lately of the "mainstream media," it turns out
that young adults around the world believe the media serves an
important role in keeping a check on government and corporate
interests. Young people are more media-literate than any previous
generation. The Web and social media have given them access to news
from all over the world, as well as endless shades of opinion. Being
educated to think for themselves, they know the importance of having
reliable information and have learned how to filter out propaganda
and focus on sources they trust.
The Global Youth Study found that 64 percent agreed with the
statement "The media performs an important role in keeping a check on
state and corporate activities." This view is especially prevalent in
important emerging nations: Seventy-seven percent of young adults in
China agreed, 79 percent in India and 82 percent in Brazil.
The statement "All news media should be regulated so that it is
clearly independent of state and corporate bias" scored agreement
from 70 percent of respondents; an additional 23 percent were
neutral. And it's a good thing they feel passionately about this one:
Freedom House's Freedom of the Press index shows that press freedom
is now in decline in almost every area of the world. It adds that
only 17 percent of the planet's citizens live in countries that enjoy
a free press.
Economic Stability
Half of the young people surveyed in the Global Youth Study say
economic activity needs to scale back rather than grow. Eighteen
percent agree strongly, and an additional 32 percent tend to agree
that current levels of global economic activity are not sustainable.
The country-by-country breakdown is intriguing. In traditional
economic powerhouses now in decline--the U.S., Germany and
Japan--less than half of respondents agreed with that sentiment. It's
in the newly booming nations that young people felt most strongly
that current levels of economic activity are unsustainable: Fifty-two
percent in Brazil, 66 percent in China, 66 percent in India and 73
percent in Russia.
This raises some important questions: Are these young adults seeing
things in their countries that make them expect the economy to
falter? Why don't young Americans, Germans and Japanese see a reason
to doubt business as usual?
Local Trumps Global
Young people's political apathy is a myth. Just look at who gets the
credit for propelling a young (by high-office standards), progressive
(-sounding) candidate into the U.S. presidency. But one thing that's
striking about millennials' political passions is where they lie. The
Global Youth Study found that young people around the world tend to
be more focused on local affairs. Overall, 40 percent said global
politics are vital to their well-being, while 52 percent see local
politics as vital.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, relatively low numbers of youth in stable
European democracies regard either global or local politics as vital
to their interests. Living in stability and prosperity has a way of
making people take it for granted. Much higher numbers of youth take
a strong interest in local and global politics in countries in the
midst of transition. (Some stats: Seventy-eight percent local and 60
percent global in China, 68 and 59 percent in Mexico, 74 and 59
percent in Chile.)
The low numbers in developed countries could reflect indifference, or
they could bespeak confidence. The high figures in the developing
world might indicate a feeling of vulnerability, or they might reveal
great levels of drive, energy and engagement.
Privatization
Despite the Tea Partiers' rhetoric about small government, young
people around the world believe governments should run public
services. A majority agreed with the statement "Public services
should be run by the state rather than run by corporations." Just 10
percent said corporations should run public services.
Notably, more American youth agreed with that statement than those
paragons of socialism, the French. Only 38 percent of young French
adults agreed public services should be run by the state, and almost
half were neutral. In the United States, 48 percent of young adults
agreed and 39 percent were neutral. Only 13 percent of young
Americans believed corporations should run public services.
Once again, we see that youth's sophisticated and nuanced views can't
be reduced to a bumper sticker. This generation believes what it
believes--and forms and shares its positions globally through the
Internet and social media--and can't be shoehorned into convenient
political narratives.
If youth sentiment were translated into votes, in most countries it
would mean young voters standing against further privatization of
public services. It could mean a mandate for governments to
renationalize some services.
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