I’ve been working with a team of radio producers, Vicky Spratt and Lewis Goodall, on a documentary for BBC Radio 4 called Generation Right. We’re looking at the political views of our generation — Generation Y – to see whether today’s twentysomethings are a new breed of right-wingers.
Compared to their predecessors, ‘Gen Y’ have shifted to the right on economic issues, while they have slid to the left socially (with more progressive views on homosexuality, women’s rights and immigration). In our programme we set out to explore why.
An analysis of research by pollsters IPSOS Mori suggests that unlike generations before us, Gen Y have a much more individualised outlook and a greater sense of personal responsibility. Take benefits for example. Polling analysis suggests that Gen Y are not particularly keen on spending more money on the poor. However they also don’t believe someone owes them a living.
Bobby Duffy, Managing Director of IPSOS Mori’s social research team, suggests that because Gen Y haven’t had a lot of help themselves – with student loans, tuition fees, housing – it has conditioned them to believe that they need to look after themselves. But
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