You can say what you like about Gen Z. Lazy, oversensitive, phone-addicts… and that’s just according to my older relatives.
But what about ‘politically engaged’? What about ‘inherently curious’? ‘Open-minded’ and ‘possessing an instilled sense of responsibility for the broader international picture’? It’s quite rare for these attributes to make the list. Perhaps that’s why the UK’s Labour government’s critically reclaimed ‘popularist’ choice to lower the voting age has been met by such a negative reaction.
Political engagement as a bejewelled, double-edged sword
Ordinarily, one associates political engagement with a healthy and well-stimulated mind.
Being politically aware, more so politically active, is surely an indication of intelligence. If someone is politically engaged, it shows that they can think critically, not only about their own problems but also about larger-scale issues, such as climate change and systemic injustices.
Some people think we can go even further. As well as intelligence, we should be able to broadly assess someone’s level of morality based on their level of political engagement. Certain political philosophies have been tied to increased levels of altruism.
On this basis, then, it looks like occupying a “pastime for politics” is perfectly commendable. But Gen Z, fatally branded as the politically ‘woke’ generation, is living proof that this is not always the case. Dangers come with stepping too far outside ‘the village.’ Mental exhaustion and anxiety overload – these are just a couple of the perils facing this unfortunate generation of guinea pigs.
And as young people reach out their hand to the enticing world of modern politics, one pressing concern emerges:
Do they shake their hands of their own accord, or are they being dragged in involuntarily?
The rise of political engagement amongst Gen Z
George Orwell once said: “Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it”.
I’m not 100% sold on the intelligence part. But, when it comes to being politically engaged – or at least politically aware – I think there’s a good case to be made there.
Now, more than ever, young people are seemingly voluntarily entering into the spheres of political discourse.
“It’s all politics now”
Politics is now an inevitable part of our lives. Inescapable even, I’d argue.
It’s intertwined in the words of our favourite artists’ songs and the music industry. Think of the rapidly intensifying public feud between Taylor Swift and Donald Trump, which rose to a catalyst when Trump stooped to say she was ‘no longer hot’. Artists can no longer operate in a separate realm to politicians.
Politics is also heavily engrained in ‘meme culture’. Once upon a time, in the days before YOLOs and LMAOs, the internet wasn’t a thing (scary, I know). Now, a politician’s every movement can be analysed, scrutinised and judged. And it’s not just that these politicians are aware that they may be meme-fied. They’re fully expecting to be meme-fied.
Everyone remembers Kamala Harris’s embracing of brat summer as part of her 2024 presidential campaign. And we can’t forget the hundreds of TikTok sound edits to Donald Trump saying ‘they’re eating the dogs’ at a press conference.
Even young people who would otherwise have no interest in US politics are aware of these cultural trends. Additionally, teens who are too young to vote would still be able to recognise the Labour Party-adopted song, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, due to the viral edits of the sound. And they could do this despite having no understanding of the song’s original context.
The political becomes the cultural
What’s political is now cultural. Not from the newspapers. Not from the radio. But from social media.
There is no clear divide anymore. To go about your day, to listen to music, to watch actors at press conferences, to go on the internet… these things normalise you to the political agenda. They cannot turn it off.
To exist as a young person is to be exposed to the political orbit. Young people have some level of political knowledge, albeit relatively surface-level, that would not have existed 50 years ago.
The BLM Protests:
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests were a series of predominantly peaceful protests that sought to expose the systematic racial injustices in modern America. The powerful anti-racism movement was quick to gain traction. Sprouting up among several large capital cities, the mask protesters stood for a decentralised political ideology and social movement. Or, at the very least, encouraged people to self-reflect on their own racial prejudices and biases.
Of course, protests are nothing new. History books are rife with accounts of riots and revolutions. But what’s interesting is how this specific political moment was able to evolve into such a cultural phenomenon. The movement became known even to those who had little to no prior knowledge of politics.
Many of the Black Lives Matter protests were propagated through social media, and influencers played a key part in instigating them. Emerging talents such as Madison Beer and YouTubers like Jake Paul infamously took part. Charlie D’Amelio – the then most followed TikTok creator – changed her profile picture to show her support for the movement.
Crucially, most of these influencers’ fans were young teenagers. Gen Z. Their first time hearing phrases like ‘black liberation’ and ‘criminal justice reform’ were wedged between videos captioned ‘Get ready with me for prom’ and ‘here’s my afterschool night time routine’.
Simply in virtue of the fact that a) politics is becoming more digitally accessible and b) that young people consume a lot of digital content, the conclusion is inevitable. Young people are bred to be politically aware. For them, politics is no longer an option, but a mode of life.
Politically informative or politically performative?
Arguably, a lot of ‘political’ content is performative. And, by extension, Gen Z is more politically performative, rather than politically informed. Did any of these videos make a tangible difference, or were they all done merely to indicate political wokeness? Do these people really care about the causes, or is this another classic example of virtue-signalling?
Whilst the sincerity of the protesters can be called into question, the political implication of the videos themselves is undeniable. Through social media, large audiences were made aware that these protests were happening. This inevitably led mass sums of people to support the cause. Seeing video clips of these protests on social media may have also inspired young people to speak out on related issues.
At the very least, seeing these videos engendered the youth with a wider political understanding. The political message was dissipated by their favourite influencers, alongside their usual non-political content, so that their regular content was casually merged alongside the ‘political stuff’.
The future of politics
This all goes some way to account for the rapid succession of the politically-minded youth. On July 17th, the Labour Government lowered the UK voting age, which will allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in next general election. Similarly, George Finch was made the UK’s youngest council leader at just 19-years-old.
The interim leader at Warwickshire County Council said: “I don’t care about my age. Would people be questioning whether there’s a 70-year-old at the helm? Probably not.”
Similarly, Sam Carling was elected as an MP for North West Cambridgeshire when he was just 22. Drawing on his personal experience, he said: “I always get a little bit frustrated when people mention life experience because no one has yet been able to explain to me why being older makes you better for the job.”
To take a cynical view, perhaps it speaks to the dire state of our political climate that young people are feeling compelled to take a firm political stand. But I think this would overlook the deeper issue here. The normalisation and meme-ification of political discourse have made politics more accessible to Gen Z.
Of course, they’re not necessarily better at discerning the good ideas from the bad. But still, it’s worth giving them a chance. They probably know more than they’re letting on.
