A youth focused international project
FES Jugendstudien is an international youth research project dedicated to the study of young people’s opinion. It has already been carried out across Eastern and Southeastern Europe, for instance in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Russia. In the coming years, the project will cover more of Eastern Europe, but also Central Europe, Baltic countries, as well as the Middle East and North Africa. The main goal of this study is to identify, describe, and analyse attitudes of young people and patterns of behaviour in modern society.. The youth study of Russia, “Russia’s Generation Z – attitudes and values” is the most recent outcome of the project.
Experience and expectations of young people
From May to June 2019, 1500 respondents from 14 to 29 years old were interviewed. The questions they were asked covered a wide range of topics, e.g. their experience and desires in various aspects of life, such as education, employment, political participation, familial relationships, leisure activities, digital technologies, as well as beliefs, moral values, and life principles. The results of the study were published in a report, both in English and Russian.
Key findings
Results display gaps between young people from Russia and from Western Europe. Only 52% of the people interviewed believe that relations between Russia and Western Europe will ever be friendly. Nevertheless, Russian youth places Europe in higher regards for a range of social aspects. For instance, economic factors, as well as individual freedom, democracy and rule of law features are perceived as being less strict in Europe for young people than in Russia. Furthermore, the more one travels, the more likely they will be to identify as a European citizen. Encouraging exchanges of young people between Russia and Europe could contribute to the perception of Europe as a common cultural space, while preserving each country’s own culture. Such exchanges could boost a European sense of belonging.
On another note, young Russia is not former Soviet Russia. The USSR political system and its collapse generated a loss of interest towards it among young people. Up to 50% of young people confess being indifferent to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Political apathy is common. Many young people (almost 60%) said to be 'not interested' or 'slightly interested' in politics. Besides that, it is difficult for them to fully trust national government institutions. Only 26% trust the government, while 16% trust political parties, and only 24% trust the State Duma. However, the level of trust towards the president is relatively high (42%). But signs arise regarding opposite trends: autocratic methods have close to no support, and unlike most of Russians, young Russians value democracy principles more.
Two thirds of the respondents agreed that young people should have more opportunities to express their political views. We could perceive this as a sign of interest towards political concerns, which, however, is hardly expressed through specific political demands. Such a lack of trust in politics may be one of the factors that stimulate the desire to leave the country. Almost half of the respondents do not rule out the possibility of emigration, and 16% have a strong or a very strong desire to emigrate. Among those with the strongest will to emigrate, those who see the future of the country in a very pessimistic way and who tend to distrust government institutions, are disproportionately highly represented. Finally, young people’s political views do not drastically differ from the views of the entire country’s population.
The greatest difference between young people and older generations is the large part of those who sympathise with ideas of liberalism (12%) and those with Russian nationalism (16%). In other words, youth seems to be slightly more polarised than the rest of the population. Moreover, social democracy has the most support (28%) across the full political spectrum. However, 74% of the respondents agree that the income gap between rich and poor citizens should not be excessive, and 86% believe that the government should take more measures and responsibility for the prosperity of all. More than two thirds of youth want the government to protect human rights and the environment, to take care of economic growth and development, to fight unemployment, crime and corruption, as well as to ensure social justice and safety for everyone.