A large global survey released yesterday showed a surge in despair and disillusionment with established politics, particularly among young American men, the only US population group to turn more conservative over the past decade.
The study by the international research agency Glocalities offered context for November’s US presidential poll and a plethora of votes worldwide, including an EU parliamentary election in June.
It surveyed respondents to determine their position on a scale on a scale of optimism between “hope” and “despair,” and on another between “control” and “freedom” — in other words, conservatism and liberalism.
On average, the world became more liberal from 2014 to last year, even as it became more pessimistic, according to more than 300,000 surveys in 20 countries representing nearly 60 percent of the global population.
Young people the world over feel especially let down by society, Glocalities head of research Martijn Lampert said, adding that “the surge in despair among young adults in the US far outweighs the rise in despair among young adults in EU countries.”
Most strikingly, young US men were the only population group in the US or even seven EU member states to have become more conservative since 2014 — or, in the poll’s terms, to favor more control rather than freedom.
In total, 14,526 Americans were polled from 2014 to last year, including 2,242 men aged 18 to 34.
Worldwide, “feelings of hopelessness, societal disillusionment and rebelling against cosmopolitan values partly explain the rise of radical right anti-establishment parties,” Lampert said, citing elections in several European countries.
Social media algorithms were magnifying the trend by drawing “moderately conservative young men towards more extreme and radical conservative male role models and world views,” the report said.
The report also highlighted a sharp difference between the world’s young men and young women.
Both were worried about career prospects, financial security and education, but while men aged 18 to 24 overtook men aged 55 to 70 as the most socially conservative group, women aged 18 to 24 grew more liberal and anti-patriarchal.
On a scale where 1 represents the most conservative and 5 the most liberal, women worldwide aged 18 to 24 moved from 3.55 in 2014 to 3.78 last year — both easily the highest for any age group.
Men of the same age moved from 3.29 to 3.36. And in the US, men aged 18 to 34 became less liberal, dropping from 3.48 to 3.46.
“Globally, young women are likely the most liberal group in human history,” the report said.
Young women were worried above all about social issues such as sexual harassment, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect.
Young men were more geared toward achieving social and economic status, and set store by conservative family values and competition, bravery and honor.
If the report offered a glimmer of optimism, it was among the world’s men and women over 55, the only groups to become generally more hopeful over the decade, as well as more liberal.
Respondents were asked 43 questions to assess where they ranked. To gauge social values, Glocalities assessed their views about patriarchy, gender role flexibility, same-sex marriage and cohabitation before marriage.
The measurement of sentiment focused on future prospects and feelings about being let down by society.
Surveys were conducted in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS