Millennials and young people of Generation Z declare themselves anti-capitalists

“When the people have nothing to eat, they will eat the rich.” This famous saying of his Jean-Jacques Rousseau from 18^The century may be of great concern to us in the near future, according to Guardian columnist Owen Jones.

But why is this happening and one of its representatives French Enlightenment is it relevant again? “Because young people are hungry and the menu is rich”, warns the most extensive publication, bearing in mind the words of the Swiss philosopher who as early as 1780 had warned that “when the masses can not make a living, they will turn aggressively against plutocracy and those who prevent them from surviving.”

“Does this mean that property owners should be concerned?”, The article wonders, which is quick to respond immediately: No. Because millennials, that is, all those who were born from the early 80’s to the end of the 1990’s, but also the next generation, the “Z”, is not in favor of violence – but it is in favor of the Left.

And there is tangible evidence in this direction as well, according to a British report Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) published last July, Old Albion’s young men and women have “turned to the Left”, with almost 80% blaming capitalism for the housing crisis, 75% saying the climate crisis is a capitalist problem ”and 72% support mass nationalizations. “A total of 67% want to live under a socialist economic system.”

Take for example 33-year-old British Jack Foster, now a bank clerk who says he is “disappointed with the current capitalist system” and makes it clear that the current socio-economic landscape has shaped his political direction: home. I wondered if I could buy a house, but with a cleaning mother and a disabled father, I had no choice. “I realized that in order to be able to buy a house, I had to inherit a lot of money from my parents – which was not going to happen.”

However, the crisis facing young people today is not only purely economic, but also existential, as they worry that in a few decades it is possible that the planet will not even exist, at least as we know it today. “We have Jeff Bezos being launched into space, at a time when Las Vegas is suffering from water shortages and half the planet is burning,” the article notes. Emily Harris, a 20-year-old student from London and her view is shared by the majority of British youth.

So are American millenials

A A similar trend is observed on the other side of the Atlantic. Research from Harvard University revealed in 2016 that 50% of young people were in school “Against capitalism”, while in 2018 a new poll by the Gallup Institute showed that 45% of young Americans are in favor of capitalism (in 2010 the corresponding percentage was 68%, ie we are talking about a drop of 23% in eight years).

The most famous millennial US politician seems to have played a catalytic role in this direction: “The New York MP of the Democratic Party Alexandria Occasio-Cortez, “It sums up the spirit of her generation,” Jones said. “He is the idol of today’s 30-somethings who want the redistribution of wealth to be accompanied by an equally large portion of pop culture,” he explains.

The “spontaneity” is clear and refers to the recent 31-year-old Cortez’s choice to attend the Met Ball wearing an impressive, white toilet with the caption “Tax the rich” (Tax the Rich).

According to Christian Nimetz, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) and author of the report, the shift of young people to the Left is partly due to the fact that the way young people perceive socialism has changed. Speaking to the Guardian, he argued that while once considered “marginal”, socialism is now more of a “fashion statement, especially on social media, where people build a socialist public image for communication purposes”.

However, he could not help but recognize that the Left is once again attractive because of the unprecedented housing crisis plaguing Britain. Today, Britain is more than a ‘property democracy’, it’s a ‘landlord’s paradise,’ “Jones said, adding that in two decades, a young middle-income person in Britain could have a home of their own. reduced by at least half.

“It is now clear that young people see no reasonable incentive to support a system that seems to offer little more than insecurity and crisis“, The British columnist concludes his analysis with meaning.