The younger generations are a priori more progressive than the older ones. Do we become more conservative as we age? Or is there another explanation? Political scientist Adrien Petitpas analyzes the evolution of our beliefs in Point J.
“The older we get, the more conservative we tend to be. Among the main reasons, we have life events such as becoming a parent or having a financial situation. But also psychological factors; the older we get “As we get older, we need stability”, says the researcher at the University of Geneva.
Have these people become conservative because they have gotten older or because they belong to a more conservative generation?
Young people would therefore be idealistic when older people need order and a tax policy that benefits them. It’s obviously not that simple. “There are age effects and generation effects. Most of the effects are due to generation, that is to say the moment in which one was born and the moment in which one built one’s life, in particular the “adolescence. This is where political values are built”, analyzes Adrien Petitpas.
Today’s seniors are generally more religious, more rural than their children and grandchildren. Will this right-wing attitude of the elders fade with subsequent generations? What can we say about young people, men in particular, yet many of them join the far right?
Listen to the entire episode:
Caroline Stevan
Swiss
