Reflecting on the zero-sum or positive-sum thing, I think I would say "the opulently rich are often seen to be shafting people" rather than the 'even moderately rich people get rich at the expense of others.' We live in a world of enormous wealth inequality. And also the world does not seem able to make certain political moves to bolster that, which we young people often feel at the disadvantage of. If we live in a world where we sometimes win and sometimes lose, why do the most rich people never lose their livelyhood as a class once in a while? Why is their wealth stable and that of other not? Why do they always do well, regardless of the state of the economy. So I think there is this sense of what's protected, and what is prioritised, more than whether people think it is possible to be acting according to good principles without fearing whether it will hurt us. Reflecting on the output orientedness. I think with young people it is like a matter of "we keep voting but nothing changes" leading young peopleto ask whether they are even powerful in the first place. Wether their concerns even matter. This again comes back to my previous point about the sense that you are not prioritised. I actually do think I harbor a quite positive-sum view in that I can stomach others having something without fearing that I'll lose. And maybe even if it means I'll lose out. Maybe people can be somewhat resilient to that idea. But if I earn only half as much tomorrow than I do today, my rent does not halve in turn. However, if I were to earn double as much tomorrow, you bet the market will adjust if that is how everyone fared. My optimism even in the face of loss is OK because I believe we have to live society according to certain principles where we value each other and make sure we keep society running. For that, I can give something up and I would hope others do as well. But that does not seem to be how politics works, and neither does the economy expect less of me if I have less to pay. The last thing means that a loss of income would not just mean a loss of living standards where you go back to those of someone many decades ago.... you end up on the streets. This squeeze I think is what makes many people very very angry and pessimistic.
I definitely noticed a change in my outlook when I left university and started to have to compete for jobs. That sense of scarcity made me feel less generous (to my discredit).
There's a concept I haven't heard mentioned for ages "Status Anxiety" - the idea is that you're permanently comparing you're life, your wealth and your social status against you "peer", friends, family, neighbours .. and you're permanently 'on edge' because a friend from school has a bigger house than you, a neighbour has a fancier car, a cousin has more high profile job ...I wonder if social media is putting this on steroids, throw in growing inequality, you get a sense that, even if the economy is OK , and even if you're doing OK, you're comparing yourself to someone who is doing better (or appears to be doing better on Instagram) and that makes you feel inadequate and feel more 'zero sum' and all ''vote the bastards out'
@@scottn2046 yes that's probably true. Think where social distorts things for me is lots of crime videos (Black lives matter influenced by a flavour of this) and lots of extreme political views when reality is probably is most ppl are more moderate
@@scottn2046 I'm not certain that it is an envy thing, like you want to have morethan your neighbohr. Many people are not like that. What I do think affects everyone is the sense of what is normal that is created.
@nielskorpel8860 It's more complex than envy, it's more about self validation. It's kind of the adult equivalent of not having the latest, expensive sneakers at school and knowing how that effects your place in the social hierarchy. It's not about wanting the sneakers, or even wanting the status, it's the anxiety about how others will judge you. And the idea is that in a modern, democratic capitalist society, having the house, the car, the clothes, the phone, the holiday photos on instagram, are seen as markers of whether you're a winner or a loser.
As a young person who is, somewhat, dissatisfied with democracy right now, I think that you have misrepresented the data a bit. In the polling you show, young people state, what I have just stated, that they are dissatisfied with democracy. In your video(which I think was quite good) you interpret this as young people being anti-democratic, I don’t know if that is necessarily true. I think your analysis is, somewhat, right in suggesting that younger people are, in some cases, more anti-democratic, but that is not what the data you show on screen tells us. It states that about ca. 45% of millennials aged 30-35 are dissatisfied with democracy, but not necessarily anti-democratic. All people who are anti-democratic are probably dissatisfied with democracy, but I wouldn't imply that all people who are dissatisfied with democracy are anti-democratic. I think there are good reasons for young people(especially in the US and UK) to be dissatisfied with democracy. e.g in the US and UK you have an electoral system that, in many cases, fails to represent the will of the voters(electoral college and the system you have for parliament seats in the UK). There are many reasons to be dissatisfied with democracy that have nothing to do with being anti-democratic. I hope it’s clear that this comment attempts to be a good-faith critique and not anything else. I liked your video and wish you the best.
Good point and thank you for watching and making such a helpful contribution. I guess it's not entirely clear what being dissatisfied with democracy means. Here's the full report www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Youth_and_Satisfaction_with_Democracy-lite.pdf#page=16
Hi Brendan, great video!! Very interesting graphs and really appreciate you taking us through them. Just a note video editing wise, the rise in volume of the music between your different talking points is a bit jarring, I'd recommend a less intense change in volume in these parts!!
Interesting video Brendan. Nice to see these concepts actually being put against statistical data. As a 37yo who grew up surrounded by relatively left-leaning kids (despite going to a relatively conservative Australian private school) I find it confusing to think of people
I think political divides are increasingly explained by psychology. Some people are just born more attracted by conservative ideas. For this reason I would expect strong sections of every generation to be right and left wing, with a section in the middle that is more open
Well I mean the graph you showed was only for developed contries. In El salvador. The incumbent went from winning 55% of the vote in 2019 to 82% in 2024 thanks to him amking excellent decisions
Inflation cannot be the sole and only reason, we had quite bad stagflation (high inflation, and stagnant growth) in the 1970s (perhaps late 1970?) there is not a corresponding "all governments" lose vote-shares there. The figure of how income+wealth distribution changes over time would be very interesting to see (Pickety's (sp?) work...)
about the ideia that "if you grow up during depression times you are more likely to have a zero-sum view": what about the great depression of 1929!? Look at the graph and see the contradiction. Smells like cherry picking...
I think the graph doesn't include those. It starts with those born in the 1930s and records the economic growth they experienced as young adults (e.g. that of the 1950s)
loved this!
Reflecting on the zero-sum or positive-sum thing, I think I would say "the opulently rich are often seen to be shafting people" rather than the 'even moderately rich people get rich at the expense of others.' We live in a world of enormous wealth inequality. And also the world does not seem able to make certain political moves to bolster that, which we young people often feel at the disadvantage of. If we live in a world where we sometimes win and sometimes lose, why do the most rich people never lose their livelyhood as a class once in a while? Why is their wealth stable and that of other not? Why do they always do well, regardless of the state of the economy. So I think there is this sense of what's protected, and what is prioritised, more than whether people think it is possible to be acting according to good principles without fearing whether it will hurt us.
Reflecting on the output orientedness. I think with young people it is like a matter of "we keep voting but nothing changes" leading young peopleto ask whether they are even powerful in the first place. Wether their concerns even matter. This again comes back to my previous point about the sense that you are not prioritised. I actually do think I harbor a quite positive-sum view in that I can stomach others having something without fearing that I'll lose. And maybe even if it means I'll lose out. Maybe people can be somewhat resilient to that idea. But if I earn only half as much tomorrow than I do today, my rent does not halve in turn. However, if I were to earn double as much tomorrow, you bet the market will adjust if that is how everyone fared. My optimism even in the face of loss is OK because I believe we have to live society according to certain principles where we value each other and make sure we keep society running. For that, I can give something up and I would hope others do as well. But that does not seem to be how politics works, and neither does the economy expect less of me if I have less to pay. The last thing means that a loss of income would not just mean a loss of living standards where you go back to those of someone many decades ago.... you end up on the streets. This squeeze I think is what makes many people very very angry and pessimistic.
I definitely noticed a change in my outlook when I left university and started to have to compete for jobs. That sense of scarcity made me feel less generous (to my discredit).
There's a concept I haven't heard mentioned for ages "Status Anxiety" - the idea is that you're permanently comparing you're life, your wealth and your social status against you "peer", friends, family, neighbours .. and you're permanently 'on edge' because a friend from school has a bigger house than you, a neighbour has a fancier car, a cousin has more high profile job ...I wonder if social media is putting this on steroids, throw in growing inequality, you get a sense that, even if the economy is OK , and even if you're doing OK, you're comparing yourself to someone who is doing better (or appears to be doing better on Instagram) and that makes you feel inadequate and feel more 'zero sum' and all ''vote the bastards out'
@@scottn2046 yes that's probably true. Think where social distorts things for me is lots of crime videos (Black lives matter influenced by a flavour of this) and lots of extreme political views when reality is probably is most ppl are more moderate
@@scottn2046 I'm not certain that it is an envy thing, like you want to have morethan your neighbohr. Many people are not like that. What I do think affects everyone is the sense of what is normal that is created.
@nielskorpel8860 It's more complex than envy, it's more about self validation. It's kind of the adult equivalent of not having the latest, expensive sneakers at school and knowing how that effects your place in the social hierarchy. It's not about wanting the sneakers, or even wanting the status, it's the anxiety about how others will judge you. And the idea is that in a modern, democratic capitalist society, having the house, the car, the clothes, the phone, the holiday photos on instagram, are seen as markers of whether you're a winner or a loser.
Great video! Please do more!
As a young person who is, somewhat, dissatisfied with democracy right now, I think that you have misrepresented the data a bit. In the polling you show, young people state, what I have just stated, that they are dissatisfied with democracy. In your video(which I think was quite good) you interpret this as young people being anti-democratic, I don’t know if that is necessarily true. I think your analysis is, somewhat, right in suggesting that younger people are, in some cases, more anti-democratic, but that is not what the data you show on screen tells us. It states that about ca. 45% of millennials aged 30-35 are dissatisfied with democracy, but not necessarily anti-democratic. All people who are anti-democratic are probably dissatisfied with democracy, but I wouldn't imply that all people who are dissatisfied with democracy are anti-democratic. I think there are good reasons for young people(especially in the US and UK) to be dissatisfied with democracy. e.g in the US and UK you have an electoral system that, in many cases, fails to represent the will of the voters(electoral college and the system you have for parliament seats in the UK).
There are many reasons to be dissatisfied with democracy that have nothing to do with being anti-democratic.
I hope it’s clear that this comment attempts to be a good-faith critique and not anything else. I liked your video and wish you the best.
Good point and thank you for watching and making such a helpful contribution. I guess it's not entirely clear what being dissatisfied with democracy means. Here's the full report www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Youth_and_Satisfaction_with_Democracy-lite.pdf#page=16
Very interesting talk.
I'm really disillusioned by this recent trend. 😟
great graphs!
Hi Brendan, great video!! Very interesting graphs and really appreciate you taking us through them. Just a note video editing wise, the rise in volume of the music between your different talking points is a bit jarring, I'd recommend a less intense change in volume in these parts!!
Ah that's helpful. Thank you for taking the time to comment
Interesting video Brendan. Nice to see these concepts actually being put against statistical data. As a 37yo who grew up surrounded by relatively left-leaning kids (despite going to a relatively conservative Australian private school) I find it confusing to think of people
I think political divides are increasingly explained by psychology. Some people are just born more attracted by conservative ideas. For this reason I would expect strong sections of every generation to be right and left wing, with a section in the middle that is more open
Well I mean the graph you showed was only for developed contries. In El salvador. The incumbent went from winning 55% of the vote in 2019 to 82% in 2024 thanks to him amking excellent decisions
Do you think his popularity will last for ever? If not, do you think he will concede power ?
Inflation cannot be the sole and only reason, we had quite bad stagflation (high inflation, and stagnant growth) in the 1970s (perhaps late 1970?) there is not a corresponding "all governments" lose vote-shares there. The figure of how income+wealth distribution changes over time would be very interesting to see (Pickety's (sp?) work...)
Yes that's a good point. Maybe the media environment has changed too? A puzzle
@@BrendanMillerExplains Yes, that too, and de-industrialization of "the west" might have contributed as well?
about the ideia that "if you grow up during depression times you are more likely to have a zero-sum view": what about the great depression of 1929!? Look at the graph and see the contradiction. Smells like cherry picking...
I think the graph doesn't include those. It starts with those born in the 1930s and records the economic growth they experienced as young adults (e.g. that of the 1950s)
Eat your glasses