Are young people really “not woke”, as asserted by a recent study by the Institut Montaigne?

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To “woke” or not to “woke”, that is the question. In a study #MeYoung Opinionway-20 minutes* on the report of 18-30 year olds in the presidential election – to be published next Wednesday and of which we are revealing the first results exclusively – young people see themselves, at 29%, in a more “egalitarian” France within five years “. “In a France that acts more against discrimination, racism, social and economic inequalities”, the spearheads of a culture that is much talked about: the “woke” culture. And this Thursday
the Montaigne Institute – the French think tank which defends liberal orientations – has published its investigation
The plural youth. In this study conducted by Olivier Galland, research director at the CNRS and Marc Lazar, professor of history and political sociology at Sciences-Po Paris, young people present profiles that are too different to allow us to speak of a “woke” movement in France.

So “woke” or not “woke”, young people? Answers with Frédéric Dabi, general director of opinion at Ifop and author of The divide, which draws a detailed portrait of 18-30 year olds, based on a succession of major opinion polls conducted by the institute itself from 1957 to 2021.

What is it to be woke?

As a reminder, the word “woke” was born in African-American communities in the 1950s, and brought together people said to be “politically aware”. In 2021, being “woke” means, more broadly, being aware of social and political injustices but also fighting against racism and the oppression experienced by certain minorities.

And according to Frédéric Dabi, the notion of “wokism” or “woke culture” is based on two fundamental pillars. “First of all, to be “woke” is to reject all the injustices and discriminations seen as systemic”. In other words, to face up to all the inequalities resulting from the decisions of the public authorities. “The other foundation of “wokism” is the sacralization of minorities, adds the political analyst. When we are “woke”, we value and defend, at all costs, those who are underrepresented in society.

What does the young “woke” look like?

Surprisingly, or not, adherence to the notion of wokism is more pronounced among young women. “The young woke is rather a woman, aged between 18 and 20 and inserted on the left, summarizes Frédéric Dabi according to the figures from a survey by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop). The level of diploma also determines adherence to a “woke” culture, often better mastered by the most qualified. “The social environment is not however decisive in the profile of the” young woke “, according to Frédéric Dabi: “Take the question of state racism, a preponderant subject for the awakening of collective consciences. On this issue, 41% of workers’ children and 34% of CSP+ children say they are concerned. The difference between the two therefore remains entirely relative. For their part, Olivier Galland and Marc Lazar ensure in their study that young people are for the most part “very concerned by many societal questions” and “more sensitive than previous generations to questions relating to racism, inequalities and discrimination”.

However, the finding that emerges from the investigation The plural youth is finally that young people are not “a woke generation”. There is no divide between the generations but more
changes in values ​​and approaches.

So why are some young people “woke” and others not?

“In my opinion, it is neither the social dimension, nor the political or religious dimension that prevails in the adherence or not to a “woke” culture”, answers Frédéric Dabi. According to the expert, wokism is a generational phenomenon. A culture embraced by the youngest of young people. “High school students are ‘woke’ almost by definition. Regardless of their social background, their political side or their religion, they are particularly sensitive to the societal issues that make the culture “woke”. If young people between the ages of 18 and 30 are not equal in terms of their support for “wokism”, the figures show, however, that one subject continues to unite, regardless of age: the climate.

Still according to the Ifop study, the environment is thus a central concern for this age group with 91% of young people declaring themselves ready to carry out at least one action to fight, at their level, against global warming. Proof is also there, these 23% of 18-30 year olds who ensure in the joint study #MoiJeune Opinionway-20 minutes* hope to live in five years in a “more ecological France, which acts more for the environment and the fight against climate change”.

And on the study side The plural youth, it is explained that it is not so much the young people who are or are not “woke” that is important, but rather the “level of wokism” attributed to each social issue. Concerning secularism, for example, “a good part of young people share the idea that respect for convictions and personal choices is a superior principle to respect for the rules that order public life” but these questions are not a major subject of concern. for them. Ditto for the question of gender and the evolution of the rights of LGBT+ people, who are “cited more often by young people as very important subjects” but are not considered very important respectively by 28% and 35% of the 8,000 young people aged 18 to 24 years surveyed, far behind violence against women (77%), for example.

The word of the end will therefore return to Frédéric Dabi: “There are many young “woke” but to say of youth, as a whole, that it is “woke” would be a generality”. And generalizing is definitely not woke.


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