Generation Y and the Political Sphere

In school, in business, in their online communities, Generation Y is known as optimistic, idealistic, passionate, and eager to make a valuable contribution. But not in politics it seems. In the political sphere, they are perceived to be cynical, apathetic and disengaged. This is reflected in the voting statistics: in the 2001 and 2005 General Elections, of the 18-24 age group there was only a 39% and 37% turnout, respectively (as compared with a 60% turnout in 1997 which were the younger Generation X). Additionally, in 2005 16% of those aged 18-24 were not even registered to vote, as compared with 2% of voters over 65.

What is the reason for this apparent incongruence? Some reports state that the apparent lack of political interest is down to age – as one’s age increases, so does awareness of how political policies impact life’s decisions. However, this does not explain the sudden drop in voter turn-out between the 1997 and 2001 elections. The Electoral Commission (2005) and the IpsosMORI report (2008) argue that Generation Y cares about political issues, but feels powerless to make a difference.

Indeed, Generation Y has experienced a government that appears not to listen to its needs. For example, tuition fees have been publically and widely discredited, yet they continue to create a generation debt-ridden from the outset. Another example was the 2003 Iraq War, which incurred the biggest protest march in British history - the largest participating age-group being 18-24 year-olds, at 16%.

This is a tragedy, since the passion of Generation Y, plus its considerable size (7 million in the UK), suggests that political parties would benefit from engaging with this population. In the US, President Obama used social media to empower young people during his Presidential campaign, with outstanding results: Obama won the votes of those under 30 by 68% to 31%. Of the 10% new voters, 72% voted for Obama, and 69% of those under 30 also voted for Obama. This kind of engagement sounds like the optimistic and idealistic Generation Y we know and love. And it can work in the UK too: if empowered by a political party and encouraged to vote, Generation Y could prove a formidable force in the 2009 General Elections.

President Barack ‘Hope’ Obama

President Barack Hussein Obama was sworn into office as the 44^th president of the United States of America on Tuesday.  Amongst the buzzing crowd of more than a million faces in the Washington DC Mall there was an air of anticipation and ultimately ‘hope’.

But, as you would imagine, we aren’t here to comment on the political accolades of of Obama, but the motivation of a Generation to support him to get to the position of, arguably, the most powerful man on the face of the earth. 

Grab a hold of these statistics:  the BBC reported that Obama won the votes of those under 30 by 68% to 31 %!  From the US-based CNBC news channel we can further add that this was the highest ever score of the youth vote achieved by any presidential candidate ever (since exit polls began in 1976).  Here’s the crunch... out of the total number of voters 10% were voting for the first time, and in this group 72% voted for Obama, and in the sub-30 (largely Generation Y) category 69% voted for Obama (compared to just 28% in favour of McCain). 

So, Why?  Here’s our analysis.  What caused the best part of a generation to support Barack Obama over McCain?  We see three elements:  Vision, Ownership, and Community.

First, Vision:  Obama created a new vision and was able to communicate it such that he achieved agreement from his supporters.  This inspired a generation to take ownership for communicating this to their peers.  It signalled their backing for the ‘audacity of hope’.  Second, Ownership:  Obama, whilst able to paint the picture, then actively sought the involvement of his supporters. He maintained, throughout his campaign, undertones of ‘You got me here’; ‘This is your doing’; and ‘Thank You’ – creating now almost iconic images of Obama clapping stadiums full of supporters: ‘It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy [and] who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep’ (Obama, Illinois, November 4, 2008).  Thirdly, he used, very effectively, 16 social networking sites – ranging from ‘Facebook’, ‘MySpace’ and ‘Twitter’ to ‘AsianAve’, ‘Faithbase’ and ‘Eons’ – to build a community of supporters aggregated in one place to whom he could blog (well, someone on his behalf we imagine), and importantly with whom he created a two-way dialogue (as opposed to a web-based corporate bill-board of promises summed up in values, behaviours and future projects).  In so-doing he listened to supporters, fence-sitters and cynics and espoused the generation y motto ‘ask, don’t tell’. 

There’s one final thing.  A sub-story perhaps, but one that is worthy of note.  Obama has been using a generation Y speech writer – Jon Favreau.  At 27 years old he has become the youngest ever director of speech writing to the White House.  Significant?  We think so.

Thatcher's Innovators

Generation Y is often perceived as arrogant and self-centred, traits not well received in business. The first of ‘Thatcher’s Children’[1] were born just as Margaret Thatcher’s government came into power in 1979. During this Conservative reign, educational and social reforms were introduced, which directly affected the lives of Generation Y.

One such reform was the 1989 Children Act, which focused on the child’s relationship with the government. For the first time in British history the law recognised the child as an independent individual with rights and choices, whose voice would be heard above that of the state[2]. For example, if a social worker was considering removing the child from its parents, the outcome would depend on the wishes of the child, whose opinion was given more weight than that of the social worker.

Another significant policy was the Education Reform or ‘Baker’ Act of 1988, which again aimed to empower the ‘consumers’ of education – the children.[3]

These reforms encouraged children to believe that they were important members of society, whose opinions were to be taken seriously by authority; parents, teachers, and employers alike.
This mindset is arguably connected to Generation Y’s entrepreneurial spirit[4], a fiercely independent mindset, where they believe that their individual ideas can change society. And why not? Einstein discovered E=MC2 when he was 26[5], Frank Whittle invented the jet engine when he was 21[6]. If employers listen to Generation Y – the first generation to be recognised by the law as relevant individuals of society – they have the potential to develop innovations which will reap enormous rewards for business.

[1] Pilcher, J. & Wagg, S. (1996). Thatcher’s Children? Falmer Press, p1.
[2] Winter, K. & Connolly, ‘Keeping it the Family’: Thatcherism & the Children Act 1989, in Pilcher, J. & Wagg, S. (1996). Thatcher’s Children? Falmer Press, Pp29-42
[3] Wagg, S. Politics, Childhood and the New Education Market, in Pilcher, J. & Wagg, S. (1996). Thatcher’s Children? Falmer Press, pp8-28
[4] http://www.grb.uk.com/generation_y.0.html
[5] http://resource.npl.co.uk/docs/educate_explore/posters/bg_einstein_poster.pdf
[6] http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-83959095.html