A popular narrative suggests young people are liberal and getting more liberal. Thus, social media buzzed when a chart surfaced in spring that seemed to suggest 12th-grade boys had become overwhelm…

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/6895873

While many believe young people are becoming more liberal, data shows that 12th grade boys are nearly twice as likely to identify as conservative compared to liberal. Around 25% of high school seniors identify as conservative while only 13% identify as liberal. In contrast, the share of 12th grade girls identifying as liberal has risen to 30%. Many factors may contribute to this trend, including the rhetoric of Donald Trump which appealed to disaffected young men, and the focus of progressive movements on issues of gender and racial equality which some young men perceive as a “matriarchy.” However, most high school seniors claim no political identity, and many boys in high school do not actively discuss

  •  spaduf   ( @spaduf@slrpnk.net ) OP
    12•11 months ago

    I would like to caution folks against concluding that these boys are simply following a longstanding trend. Looking at the numbers over time definitely shows that liberal identification among male high school seniors has reached an all time low (based on the Monitor the Future dataset) since 1976. I would also say that there does not seem to be very much conversation regarding outreach so as to reverse this decline.

  •  psvrh   ( @psvrh@lemmy.ca ) 
    6•11 months ago

    No small part of this is economic: income inequality has done a real number on white men (it’s done a real number on everyone, but bear with me, I have a point, here).

    The economic ladder’s largely been pulled up, starting with Gen-X and accelerating through the millenials and zoomers. This has taken away a lot of status from men–especially white men–who, for a long time, have had a fair amount of privilege, and the loss of that privilege, combined with an actual loss of status and mobility, stokes the embers of fascism.

    The problem is that the Right is so, so much more willing and able to speak to these feelings of frustration and angst. They have an entire playbook centred around validating and nuturing angst and inadequacy and impotent rage; they don’t explain it, they don’t try to ameliorate it, but holy shit do are they good at validating it: “Yes, you are being disadvantaged”, “Yes, your rightful place is being taken from you”, “Yes, it’s shitty that you’re made to feel bad for your privilege” and finally “Yes, it’s the fault of these gays and blacks and Jews that your rightful place has been taken from you”. It’s insidious and disingenuous (especially since the shitheels that promulgate it are doing so for a fucking tax cut and some sweet deregulation) but goddamn does it work.

    It’s also ironic because the Left actually has better solutions for the problem: economic opportunity, regulation, a social safety net that addresses basic needs. But the Left is utter crap at speaking to feelings, and I’m not sure if it’s because they find it distasteful, or because the actual message isn’t palatable or (and this is my theory) that since neoliberalism ate the Left, rich progressives don’t really want to talk about economic justice at all, and would rather play identity politics instead.

    Frankly, it’s scary. I have a couple of pretty smart boys around this age, and I can see that they’re, frankly, receptive to the idea that progressive identity politics that aren’t helping them at all, and if they weren’t genuinely good kids, I could see some neo-Nazi messaging being appealing, but it’s really hard to explain to them why they should care about rainbow flag day when they see the social safety net fraying and their prospects for, eg, owning a home or having a decent job getting further away.

    •  Oldmandan   ( @Oldmandan@lemmy.ca ) English
      19•11 months ago

      Eh… it tracks well enough I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand. Right wing talking heads push so hard at young men, it’s fucking exhausting. And the slightest attempt to engage with or learn about current events and politics tends to lead to social media algorithms jamming alt-right nonsense down your throat, because that reactionary, provocative/offensive content generates more engagement. And so much of it is trying to frame the normal struggles of growing up (sex and sexuality, responsibility and expectation, growing independence (fiscal and otherwise) etc, etc) as things being inflicted on them by others, things thay can be simply solved by stripping power from these groups. (Immigrants, women, people of colour, LGBTQIA+, etc.)

        •  MeetInPotatoes   ( @MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml ) English
          1•11 months ago

          The Allsides media bias chart has it at centrist, and the 2018 version of the Ad Fontes media had it leaning slightly right. Their site is down looks like though so can’t see an updated one. I agree that the fascists would call it a left wing rag though, and that left/right is relative to American politics. Anything to the left of crazy is suddenly leftists or RINOs in 2023.

            •  MeetInPotatoes   ( @MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml ) English
              1•11 months ago

              I’ve read it for years as well and “right wing rag” is grossly overstating its bias. Drudge is a right wing rag, the Blaze is a right wing rag, Infowars is a right wing rag, Reason.com etc… I chose a neutral source so it didn’t turn into a back and forth of opinions. Your expertise in the matter is not greater than mine, and the HIll is a centrist site in America no matter what names you want to call it. Oh, and the newer version of the Ad Fontes chart has it right in the middle as well. In other words, my opinion is supported by more than just my opinion, and yours is not. Take care.