Credit Suisse Youth Barometer Switzerland Digital natives: cautious digitalization of further spheres of life Sixth Credit Suisse youth barometer on behalf of the Credit Suisse Bulletin 2015 Project team Lukas Golder Political and Media Scientist Claude Longchamp Political Scientist, Lecturer at the Universities of Bern, Zurich and St. Gallen Cloé Jans Political Scientist Martina Mousson Political Scientist Stephan Tschöpe Political Scientist Meike Müller Sociologist and Media Scientist Philippe Rochat Political Scientist Marcel Hagemann Social Scientist Aaron Venetz Political Scientist Johanna Schwab Secretariat and Administration Sabrina Schüpbach Social Scientist A nuanced mix of analog and digital
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Credit Suisse Youth Barometer Switzerland
Digital natives: cautious digitalization of
further spheres of life
Sixth Credit Suisse youth barometer
on behalf of the Credit Suisse Bulletin 2015
Project team
Lukas Golder Political and Media Scientist
Claude Longchamp Political Scientist,
Lecturer at the Universities of Bern, Zurich and St. Gallen
Cloé Jans Political Scientist
Martina Mousson Political Scientist
Stephan Tschöpe Political Scientist
Meike Müller Sociologist and Media Scientist
Philippe Rochat Political Scientist
Marcel Hagemann Social Scientist
Aaron Venetz Political Scientist
Johanna Schwab Secretariat and Administration
Sabrina Schüpbach Social Scientist
A nuanced mix of analog
and digital
2
Contents
1 SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ...................................................................... 3
Young people differ much less in the case of Web 2.0 than with the options
offered by Web 3.03. The radical changes taking place in interactive media from
one year to the next are impressive. Besides the changes around smartphones,
which have already been substantial over the last five years and have brought
about a collapse in the use of SMS, this will also bring about further major
changes in the short term such as the gradual decline in e-mails, the develop-
ment Facebook from a trendy interactive medium into an information medium
and also the gradual decline of television as an information channel or the de-
crease in the use of paid daily newspapers.
Future – job – education – finance
In the transitional phase between education and job, young people in Switzer-
land present a very heterogeneous picture. But in their assessment of educa-
tion they are generally very positive. The large number of options helps to en-
sure that there is a way for most people to pursue their goals. A good educa-
tion is a characteristic feature of Generation Y and awareness of the im-
portance and high priority of education is very pronounced in Switzerland.
3 Web 2.0 connects people through social networks. With Web 3.0, data and computer systems
are interconnected and capable of learning themselves. The systems are suited to more complex
solutions in other spheres of life and thus become more independent, as in the example of the self-
driving car.
68
71
73
74
79
88
91
91
94
95
airplanes
email
being yourself and not pretending to besomeone else
going to the movies
getting to know new people
going on holidays to foreign countries
YouTube
meeting friends
WhatsApp
smartphone such asiPhone/Android/Blackberry
in and used
Top-Ten: Trends All Areas of Life: In and Used Switzerland"We have put together a list of very different things in life. Please judge whether these things are 'in' or 'out' in
your personal circle and also what your own opinion of them is."
The persistently high level of concern for problems in the field of old-age pen-
sions is noteworthy. When respondents are specifically asked about the aging
of society, this is actually seen as an even greater problem than the growing
number of foreigners.
The relationship with the EU is also seen as one of the more important prob-
lems by young people in Switzerland. Although the problems are not seen to
have increased, opinions on the future of this relationship have developed. But
the findings remain the same as in 2014: Continuation of the Bilateral Agree-
ments has priority for a clear majority. Joining the EU would be an option for
only a small minority, as would withdrawal from the Bilateral Agreements. Join-
ing the EEA would, if anything, be a second-priority option.
Cyber criminality and internet espionage are among the more important prob-
lems for young people. The view of problems and risks of digital identity are
likely to differ from those held by older citizens in view of greater awareness
and greater day-to-day relevance among younger people.
Values and orientation
Many changes in personal life occur between the ages of 16 and 25. In parallel
with the personal development, technical developments are progressing apace,
and Switzerland faces major political and economic challenges. Basic orienta-
tion and values remain markedly stable in view of these changes. Perhaps pre-
cisely because people want to remain flexible to these changes, they attach
particular importance to stability and thus traditional civic values in all sections
of society, from left to right, for their own idea of what life is all about.
4445 44 50 49
51
42
36 34 37 4143
22 22
3030
26
38
2934
29 27
23
25
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9 1110
26
2322
23
17 15
2322
13
27
24 22
19
1515 18
20
17
15 15
4239
32 32
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151414
Aug.-Oct.2010
May 2011 March/April2012
April/May2013
April-June2014
April-June2015
freedom of movement to/fromother countries immigrants/
immigration**old age pensions/retirementprovisions
refugees/asylum issues
protecting the environment/globalwarming/environmental disasters
EU/BilateralAgreements/European
Integrationracism/xenophobia
energy issues/nuclear energy/security of supply
safeguarding the social welfaresystem/Social Security
unemployment**
data protection online/cyber espionage
Euro crisis/Euro exchange rate
Trend Five Most Important Problems Top Eleven Switzerland"In the list below you'll see several topics which have been discussed and written about a great deal recently.
Read through the entire list and choose five points which you personally feel are Switzerland’s greatest
Finding 2: Web 2.0 embodies the zeitgeist, and young people live it
The zeitgeist of young people is shaped by digital communication and interac-
tion in the sense of Web 2.0, where they make active and enterprising use of
new tools.
Finding 3: Individualism and goal orientation at work
The Swiss education system allows many options from which most young
people fashion a suitable mix with a clear individual strategy. Education, an
interesting job and also work-life balance have very high priority for them.
Finding 4: Benign distance from politics
Young people are satisfied thanks most recently to improved job prospects, but
they also keep their distance from Switzerland’s political system. Political en-
gagement is not one of the priorities especially for young people of voting age.
Finding 5: Problems with euro exchange rate and immigration
In terms of the economy concerns surrounding the euro exchange rate have
increased, and in terms of society concerns surrounding immigration and the
asylum system have muddied the picture. Young people feel the relationship
with foreigners is more strained and concerns surrounding racism have in-
creased.
Finding 6: Civically sustainable balance in the multi-option society
Mainstream youth strives primarily both for stability in private life, with a bal-
ance between work and private life, and also for sustainability.
We propose the following hypotheses for discussion:
Hypothesis 1: With Web 3.0, digital natives will become digital immi-
grants
Digitalization shows the zeitgeist of Generation Y people and the relaxed and
accomplished way they cope with the potential of Web 2.0 as an interactive
tool strengthens them. But so-called digital natives will react to Web 3.0 in a
distanced way that is similar to the reaction of digital immigrants to Web 2.0.
Hypothesis 2: Economic integration reduces political engagement
After their compulsory schooling, young people have to take personal responsi-
bility for their economic integration early on. The minimal willingness to then
become politically engaged as well is due amongst other things to the high
economic integrative strength of Switzerland.
Hypothesis 3: Private foundations in life as a stabilizing factor
While young Swiss people have experienced material happiness in the parental
generation, rapid societal and economic changes have created many problems
in the family. The focus of young people on values is a desire for more stable
private foundations in life so that they can cope better with the changes.
13
2 Introduction
2.1 Task and methodology
The sixth Credit Suisse Youth Barometer aims to give an insight into the life-
styles and views of 16 to 25-year-olds living in Switzerland. The following spe-
cific areas are of most interest:
What sort of life do young people want and what are their hopes? What
are their concerns?
How do young people live together and what do they do in their free
time? How do they get on with different groups? How do they feel about
foreigners, equality and older people?
What is the zeitgeist of young people in different spheres of life? What is
'in' and what is 'out'? How active are the young people of today?
How do young people find out about things and what channels do they
use for inter-personnel communication? What media do young people
use and what content are they interested in?
Associated areas of interest are education, work, career and finances:
How happy are young people with their work and how do they handle
their money. What would young people do with an unexpected gift of
money?
This year young Swiss people were also asked in particular about how
they cope with the digitalization of different spheres of life.
These questions will be asked every year to give a picture of developments
over time. This should be important above all in the assessment of trends,
where a certain dynamic can be expected. Such trend statements were possi-
ble for the first time for 2012, as trends can only be reliably interpreted from at
least three measurement points. The six measurement points now available
thus provide an opportunity for reliable conclusions on trends.
The questionnaire was developed based on research by gfs.bern, with some
input from the 15th Shell Youth Study. In 2010, multiple expert interviews and,
finally, several interviews with young people from different educational back-
grounds and different regions of Switzerland were added. The questionnaire
was a result of these discussions, the customer's requirements and input from
comparable studies of young people.
For a condensed evaluation and analysis we have structured the report accord-
ing to the following sections and areas:
Digitalization (special topic 2015)
Digital communication, interaction and media
Career, economy and finances
Politics, concerns and relations with the EU
Ideas of life and values
2.2 "Young people" and generation con-
cepts (Generation Y, millennials)
Various social science definitions can be applied to young people. Generally,
those aged between 13 and 21 are defined as young. We have aimed the ques-
14
tionnaire at people who are three to four years older. This can be explained
both by the fact that education is taking an increasingly long time and also by
the aim of the study to focus on the period after compulsory schooling and on
education and career choice – which also explains why the lower age limit for
the survey was 16 years
In this report, we therefore use the term "young people" to describe 16 to 25-
year-olds living in Switzerland, the USA, Brazil and Singapore.
Generation concepts are a subject of some dispute in sociology, but they are
very common in everyday media use. In many cases, however, there is no clear
distinction in so-called cohort and lifecycle effects.
Lifecycle effects are typical as a life phase for all young people, regardless of
the year in which they were born, whereas cohort effects form groups of peo-
ple born in the same year that that are independent of age. Only when cohorts
of people born in the same year show systematic differences from other co-
horts is it possible to speak of a generation. The waves of the CS Youth Ba-
rometer to date do not allow such a statement and can be seen as a contribu-
tion to the discussion on present generation concepts.
We use different generation concepts depending on the situation. Essential
parameters of the concepts most used are the question of meaning (Genera-
tion X, Y and Z) and the approach to digitalization (digital natives and digital im-
migrants). For the sake of simplicity we use the same age cohorts in this study
as a working definition.
Generation X includes people born between 1960 and 1976. This is the first
generation that grew up after the Second World War. In Germany it is also
sometimes called the couldn’t/care-less generation or Generation Golf. Their
rejection of consumerism and the classical career focus on security is charac-
teristic of this generation. They have to learn to cope with an economic step
backwards compare with their parent’s generation. They are also the so-called
digital immigrants, because they have often come into contact with personal
computers and the potential of digitalization from a very early age
The generation of millenials or digital natives (born from 1977 to 1999) is also
known as Generation Y5 with reference to Generation X. The Y stands for
"why?" and the search for meaning that characterizes this generation. They
became familiar with the opportunities of the first-generation web (networked
computers and the internet) early on and soon came into contact with Web 2.0,
where computers were linked with social networks, as with Facebook and
Twitter. To date, only members of this generation have been interviewed in the
CS Youth Barometer.
The next generation is sometimes already referred to as Generation Z and in-
cludes people born after 2000. They have not featured in the CS Youth Barom-
eter so far. Generation Z have probably been shaped more heavily since birth
by the opportunities of the internet and Web 2.0 and also by smartphones, and
thus feel a greater urge than Generation Y to present themselves to the outside
world.
Over the last few years, the web has developed further in the direction of Web
3.06. Here, computers instead of humans are connected to form self-learning
networks that only interact with humans in specific ways and otherwise can act
autonomously. This will bring with it digitalization of further spheres of life. An
example of Web 3.0 is the self-driving car. None of the generations discussed
here have so far come into intensive contact with such opportunities.
5 Minimal definition as cohorts of people born in certain years: Generation X those born in 1965-
1976, Generation Y 1977-1999, Generation Z: 2000-…For the discussion of this topic see the ex-
planations this report and the Wikipedia entries in English and German. 6 cf. e.g. http://www.nzz.ch/finanzen/der-computer-als-intelligente-maschine-1.18363342
15
2.3 The database
In view of the high affinity that young people have with the internet, we opted
for an online questionnaire. Due to the experiences of the previous year, some
of the respondents were recruited early on by telephone on a random selection
basis. However, as was the case last year, it was not only difficult to contact
the target group but it was also difficult to convince them to participate. The
incentives used (cinema voucher plus participation in a draw for an iPad) were a
big help to motivate the young people to take part. At the same time, some of
those taking part in the study the previous year agreed to take part again in
2015. These people formed a panel which was incorporated into the analyses
as part of the random sample. Due to a combination of telephone recruiting and
recruiting on the street, the snowball process and the panel it was possible to
recruit the number of respondents aimed at for 2015. This combined recruiting
procedure has proved its worth and the incentives offered were appreciated by
the respondents.
Sample distortions caused by the combination of different recruiting methods
used were corrected by means of weighting factors. The evaluations are thus
based on a weighted file with optimization of the structure of the random sam-
ple with regard to gender, education and language region. The study is compa-
rable with the first four surveys in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The online questionnaires themselves were carried out between April and June
2015. The basic data covers 1003 respondents of between 16 and 25 living in
all three regions of Switzerland.
16
Table 1
Short technical report of all survey years of the youth barometer Survey year 1st year - 2010 2nd year - 2011 3rd year - 2012 4th year - 2013 5th year - 2014 6th year - 2015
Country Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Country
Since 2010, young Swiss people have basically and constantly shown a pro-
nounced orientation towards family and friends and also towards a balance
between free time and work. But at the heart of their values, the orientation
towards material and post-materialistic values also played a major role, although
clear differences emerged here between social environments. In left-leaning
young people post-materialism was stronger, and in right-leaning young people
materialism and slight conservatism combined to form a centre-right main-
stream.
Trends and thus also the zeitgeist were heavily influenced by means of com-
munication and remained in constant flux. Smartphones and WhatsApp in-
creased further in 2014, while the role of Facebook declined further. News
apps was also on the rise. A radical change emerged in the use of media. A
formative influence was a high degree of digital awareness, which was associ-
ated with specific demands upon politicians for the protection of digital identity.
17
Trust and political awareness were shaped by relations with other countries,
with foreigners and in 2014, after the vote on the mass immigration initiative,
also relations with the EU in particular. Political influence is barely discernible:
The willingness to become politically engaged for reform is weak and politics is
often seen as out.
The economic integration of young Swiss people, however, has been extreme-
ly successful. They see good prospects for themselves and in this respect are
guided by clear objectives in line with their values.
18
3 Findings
3.1 Digitalization in all spheres of life
Young people in Switzerland also have a life untouched by digitalization. The
last five years have seen the proportion of those who feel very much or to
some extent part of a club increase from 52 to 60 percent. This is remarkable
insofar as various clubs and youth organizations are considered passé for many
young people.
Even higher proportions have a constant sense of being part of a family or a
group of friends or humanity. There has been a slight fall in the proportion of
those who feel a part of Swiss society, although this still accounts for 64 per-
cent of young people.
Far fewer, namely 23 percent of young people, feel very much or to some ex-
tent part of an online community. This is less again than those who feel part of
European society or of a religious community, but for a new form of belonging
it is still a remarkable proportion.
Fig. 10
The internet has a firm, if not actually irreplaceable value in life for young peo-
ple. One-third consider the internet to be indispensable, while for 56 percent it
is important, and only for 8 percent does it play an occasional role. For none of
the respondents does it play an insignificant role or even no role at all.
94 93 93 9494
96 95 95 9594
78 7574
77 79
73 7372
73 73
71 6766 66 64
5255
5256
60
3739
33 3438
23 23 21
28 27
21 23
May 2011 March/April2012
April/May2013
April-June2014
April-June2015
your family
your circle of friends
humanity
Swiss society
your partnership/marriage/relationship
a club (e.g. sports club orcultural society)
European community
a religious community
an online community
Trend Feeling of Belonging to Social Unit Switzerland"To which of the social units in this list do you feel you belong? For each of the social units listed, please list
whether you feel you really belong, belong a little, do not really belong or do not belong at all."
in % inhabitants between 16 and 25 years (really belong and belong a little)
Impact of Digitalization Personally by Economic Orientation"The impact of digitalization on people’s lives is growing: electronically networked data is playing an
increasingly important role in all activities. For you personally, is this...?"
If the proportions of young people who consider the various elements trendy
regardless of their use are added together, then the smartphone remains the
frontrunner. WhatsApp follows in third position and YouTube in fifth position.
Unlike the elements that are also used, music festivals and fitness training also
make it into the top ten. In other words, music festivals and fitness training are
seen by many as trendy, even though they do not attend either festivals or
fitness centres.
Fig. 25
68
71
73
74
79
88
91
91
94
95
airplanes
email
being yourself and not pretending to besomeone else
going to the movies
getting to know new people
going on holidays to foreign countries
YouTube
meeting friends
WhatsApp
smartphone such asiPhone/Android/Blackberry
in and used
Top-Ten: Trends All Areas of Life: In and Used Switzerland"We have put together a list of very different things in life. Please judge whether these things are 'in' or 'out' in
your personal circle and also what your own opinion of them is."
Conversely, communication tools feature even more in the top ten list of ele-
ments that people use themselves but consider no longer to be in. The top five
of the somewhat outdated but practical things is related entirely to communica-
tion: SMS, handwritten letters, landline phones, being offline and email. Anoth-
er such element in the shape of Facebook is ranked eighth in the top ten: in
other words, many Facebook users consider Facebook to be out.
Fig. 26
The only top ten list in which communication tools do not occupy the leading
positions is the list of those things that that young people consider out and also
do not use themselves. This applies most of all to performance-enhancing sub-
stances or drugs. Smoking also ranks in eighth place. This is followed by a con-
spicuous number of activities or groups that can be associated with civil society
or Switzerland’s "militia" system: devotion to religion, membership of a political
party or participation in political demonstrations, or membership of the military
or a youth organization: All elements are widely regarded as out, and young
people are not interested in actively participating in them. Off-road vehicles and
handwritten letters round off this top ten list of things that have fallen out of
fashion.
15
15
15
16
22
22
23
26
26
35
public transport (train,bus)
dedicating yourself toreligion
Facebook
supporting Swisstraditions
going on holiday in yourown country
email
being offline for a day
landline telephone
handwritten letters
text messages
used but out
Top-Ten: Trends All Areas of Life: Used but Out"We have put together a list of very different things in life. Please judge whether these things are 'in' or 'out' in
your personal circle and also what your own opinion of them is."
Top-Ten: Trends All Areas of Life: Out and Not Used"We have put together a list of very different things in life. Please judge whether these things are 'in' or 'out' in
your personal circle and also what your own opinion of them is."
unchanged picture with political engagement assessed as very strong or quite
strong in about a quarter of young people.
Fig. 49
In particular, direct political engagement as an aspiration varies considerably
according to the age of the respondents. Before the age of majority or before
the attainment of citizens’ rights, the proportion of young people who consider
political engagement unimportant is less than half as high as it is in young peo-
ple over the age of 18, of whom a significantly lower proportion considers such
engagement very or extremely important. This may be put down to economic
integration or also to their first sobering experiences with voting rights.
7 7 5 6 4
20 2220 19 20
2529
28 28 28
4842
47 47 48
May 2011 March/April 2012 April/May 2013 April-June 2014 April-June 2015
very weak
fairly weak
fairly strong
very strong
Trend Full Index Political Commitment SwitzerlandIndex constructed from items concerning politically relevant questions.*
being committed politically / ju3w: ideas determining life
interest in news about politics / ju30: Interest daily events
taking part in political demonstrations / ju52af: activities/lifestyle
political parties / ju52bd: activities/lifestyle
sympathy for a party given/ ju42: party preference
political orientation given / ju45: classification left-/right
in % inhabitants between 16 and 25 years
gfs.bern, youth barometer, April-June 2015 (N = approx. 1000)*Details on the construction are provided in the methodological section of the final report.
49
Fig. 50
But the interest in politics does not decrease. The example of an interest in
politics as a part of everyday life shows no significant differences.
Fig. 51
Somewhat more widespread according to the index is the social engagement
of young people. A third are socially engaged.
1612
63
60
9
3
12
25
16/17 years old 18 years and older
not important/notimportant at all
don't know/no comments
of medium importance
extremely/very important
Trend Ideas of Life — Being Committed Politically by Age
in % inhabitants between 16 and 25 years (who inform themselves at least very occasionally)
50
Fig. 52
One reason for the low level of willingness to become politically engaged in
Switzerland is likely to be the high degree of contentment. However, 28 per-
cent still see the future of society as bleak. Pessimism has thus increased
somewhat over the previous year and stands at its highest level since 2010. In
particular, economic forecasts in Switzerland have become more negative since
the minimum euro exchange rate was abandoned. This probably also clouds
the view of young people with regard to the future of society. In terms of their
own personal future, optimism is clearly predominant. Yet here, too, the pro-
portion of those who take a bleak view of their own future has increased to 6
percent. But almost two-thirds of young people in Switzerland are optimistic.
Fig. 53
The two main problems in Switzerland remain unchanged in the view of young
people: questions concerning foreigners and immigration and also social securi-
ty and old-age pensions. Compared with the previous year, refugee and asylum
problems have shown a sharp increase in importance with 38 percent now
6 7 6 8 7
28 27 27 24 26
42 4438 41 39
24 2229 27 28
May 2011 March/April 2012 April/May 2013 April-June 2014 April-June 2015
very weak
fairly weak
fairly strong
very strong
Trend Full Index Social Commitment SwitzerlandIndex constructed from items concerning socially relevant questions.*
living and acting responsibly / ju3k: ideas determining life
helping disadvantaged people/work for charity / ju3x: ideas determining life
fighting grievances and injustice around the world / ju3ad: ideas determining life
actively involved in social/charitable projects / ju12g: factors employer
actively supporting equality between men and women / ju52ae: activities/lifestyle
being involved with a charitable organization / ju52ag: activities/lifestyle
membership NGO / ju52bc: activities/lifestyle
I donate part of my money to a charitable cause / ju49g: financial statements
in % inhabitants between 16 and 25 years
gfs.bern, youth barometer, April-June 2015 (N = approx. 1000) *Details on the construction are provided in the methodological section of the final report.
2521 20
25 2228
46
45 4644 52
48
2631 31
2923
23
3 3 3 2 3 1
Aug.-Oct. 2010 May 2011 March/April2012
April/May 2013 April-June 2014 April-June 2015
don't know/nocomments
fairly optimistic
mixed - it varies
rather bleak
Trend Opinion Future of Society Switzerland
"And what about the future of our society? Overall, is it…"
regarding this as one of the five most pressing problems. The refugee drama in
the Mediterranean and the marked increase in the number of asylum seekers
are evidently having an impact on the assessment of the most important prob-
lems.
Problem number four is environmental protection, which constantly ranks
among the most pressing problems. This is followed by relations with the EU,
which are seen as less important than in the previous year. Significantly, racism
and xenophobia are seen as the sixth most important problem. The complex of
problems as seen by young people in Switzerland is thus very heavily influ-
enced by their view of relations with foreigners or by migration issues.
In the last few years, unemployment has become slightly less important – if the
12 percent rate of mentions for youth unemployment is added on, a total of 27
percent mentioned wither unemployment or youth unemployment.
Since the 2011 survey shortly after the nuclear plant disaster of Fukushima,
energy issues have been seen as steadily less important – they are now men-
tioned by 15 percent of young people. Among the more important problems,
data protection in the internet and cyber espionage and the euro exchange rate
are mentioned for the first time. At 14 percent, however, the euro exchange
rate is not seen by young Swiss people as the most important problem by far.
Fig. 54
More young people than in the previous year think that problems concerning
foreigners, such as their integration and freedom of movement, are the most
pressing problems to be resolved. These are now followed by problems with
the asylum system. Other problems that have absolute priority for at least one
of twenty young people are environmental protection, racism and relations with
the EU. The euro crisis also concerns a relevant proportion of young people.
4445 44 50 49
51
42
36 34 37 4143
22 22
3030
26
38
2934
29 27
23
25
11
9 1110
26
2322
23
17 15
2322
13
27
24 22
19
1515 18
20
17
15 15
4239
32 32
24
151414
Aug.-Oct.2010
May 2011 March/April2012
April/May2013
April-June2014
April-June2015
freedom of movement to/fromother countries immigrants/
immigration**old age pensions/retirementprovisions
refugees/asylum issues
protecting the environment/globalwarming/environmental disasters
EU/BilateralAgreements/European
Integrationracism/xenophobia
energy issues/nuclear energy/security of supply
safeguarding the social welfaresystem/Social Security
unemployment**
data protection online/cyber espionage
Euro crisis/Euro exchange rate
Trend Five Most Important Problems Top Eleven Switzerland"In the list below you'll see several topics which have been discussed and written about a great deal recently.
Read through the entire list and choose five points which you personally feel are Switzerland’s greatest
Aggregation of different questions concerning values, to indices with -3 as minimum and +3 as maximum
62
Only very minor changes are apparent compared with the previous year. Young
people are slightly more conservative and less religious. Family and friends still
dominate, but last year’s increase in their importance has not been repeated.
Fig. 69
Legend: the scale for the landscape of values ranges from -3 to +3. The minus scores indicate those values that tend to be less important – in this
case, for example, "conservatism". The positive scores indicate the value orientations of young people. A mean value of 0 to 1 indicates a rather
weak to modest orientation, while a mean value of 1 to 2 indicates a moderate orientation. The indices are an aggregation of various questions on
values, as listed in Table 2.
Certain orientations are segmented here according to political leaning. Howev-
er, the values by which young people are guided are not as clearly determined
by left / right leaning views as they have been in previous years. Only right-
leaning young people in Switzerland are slightly conservative and have also
become more conservative than in the previous year. Centrists and left-leaners
are more modern in orientation than in the previous year. Left-leaners are highly
post-materialistic and altruistic in orientation.
Only for centrists does religion still play an important role only. For those on the
left, religious orientation is in decline.
1.1
0.7
0.0
2.4
1.0
-0.5
1.4
0.1
1.1
0.7
0.0
2.5
1.0
-0.6
1.4
0.2
1.1
0.7
0.1
2.4
1.0
-0.4
1.4
0.1
-3
0
3postmaterialism
risk
hedonism
family/friends
materialism
conservatism
altruism
religiousness
April/May 2013
April-June 2014
April-June 2015
Trend Values Switzerland Aggregation of different questions concerning values, where -3 is the minimum score and +3 the maximum
63
Fig. 70
The values held by young people can also be differentiated according to gen-
der. Men are clearly less post-materialistic and less altruistic, but more hedonis-
tic. There are no differences between the genders when it comes to conserva-
tism and materialism.
Fig. 71
The individual values held by young people can be further differentiated accord-
ing to sociodemographic characteristics. For this we use the Answer Tree ap-
proach. This method differentiates a starting population to form relevant sub-
populations, where both the significance of the observed difference and also its
contribution to an explanation of the dependent variable represents a defining
criterion. Its visualization resembles a tree, where the primary branches have
the most explanatory power and other branches serve to refine this explanatory
power.
0.9
0.7
0.3
2.4
1.1
0.2
1.0
-0.1
1.30.9
0.2
2.61.3
-0.5
1.6
0.6
1.2
0.7
-0.2
2.40.7
-1.01.7
0.0
-3
0
3Postmaterialismus
risk
hedonism
family/friends
materialism
conservatism
altruism
religiousness
right
center
left
Values Switzerland 2015 by Left-Right classification Aggregation of different questions concerning values, where -3 is the minimum score and +3 the maximum
0.9
0.7
0.3
2.4
1.0
-0.4
1.2
-0.1
1.2
0.7
-0.2
2.50.9
-0.4
1.6
0.3
-3
0
3postmaterialism
risk
hedonism
family/friends
materialism
conservatism
altruism
religiousness
male
female
Values Switzerland 2015 by GenderAggregation of different questions concerning values, where -3 is the minimum score and +3 the maximum
64
Typically, the values held by young people in Switzerland can still be relatively
clearly differentiated according to the political environment. This is surprising in
that politics does not play a key part in the young people’s self-assessment of
their lifestyle. It therefore has to be assumed that any such political influence
tends to be subconscious.
This influence is most clearly reflected in conservatism. Relatively clear con-
servative leanings are assumed to occur mostly in young people who position
themselves on the right and at the same time are regular churchgoers. The
least conservative in orientation by contrast are the men and women who posi-
tion themselves on the left.
Fig. 72
3.5.1 Interim assessment
Many changes in personal life occur between the ages of 16 and 25. In parallel
with personal development, technical developments are continuing apace, and
Switzerland faces major political and economic challenges. The basic leanings
and values of young people remain strikingly stable in view of these changes.
Perhaps precisely because there is a wish to remain flexible in face of these
changes, the main priority for personal views of life is on stability and thus tra-
ditional bourgeois values in all social settings from left to right. The question of
to what extent this bourgeois mainstream of young people who are guided by
close personal happiness is something really new can only be indirectly an-
swered for Switzerland. These values have long played a key role, also in the
Shell youth survey, which has been conducted since 1953.
The wish for stability among young people in Switzerland is discernible in many
respects. A good education, which enjoys high priority, gets you fit for changes.
High priority is also given to a good balance between job and leisure time and
not to a one-sided focus on career or one-sided materialism, but rather to an
interesting job that also offers personal fulfilment. With all these values, par-
ticular also has to be paid to the environment, to the weaker in society and to
the generations to come. It is not a potpourri of values by which young people