Young people in the Czech Republic are most worried about environmental problems, financial insecurity and the housing crisis, and fear they will not have the same standard of living as their parents’ generation, according to a survey conducted by the SYRI National Institute and presented in the Senate yesterday.
The authors of the survey also said that young people are feeling pressure to perform amid high expectations from society, predominantly distrust Czech politicians, and perceive a growing polarisation of society and an unwillingness to debate.
Regarding the environmental crisis, young people believe that it is possible to reach a solution, but for other problems they feel that a solution is more distant, the survey showed.
Respondents also mentioned digital technologies as a separate social problem, which also threatens to amplify some of the other problems.
In the survey, young people also mentioned fear of disinformation, individualism in society, low tolerance between people, and unequal rights for minorities. “They criticise the fact that they don’t see any solidarity in society, any help from other people,” said Veronika Tesarova, one of the authors of the report.
Young people want to get involved, but not directly in politics. Rather, they are leaning towards community building, which they believe has a greater impact on the society around them. They also tend to feel that they don’t have the space to express themselves on certain issues, either because of their age or because they have to focus on their economic security and don’t have time for activism.
However, according to the authors, young people are happy to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the education system. At school, they said they would like to receive more practical knowledge, especially on mental health care, financial and digital literacy, and working with artificial intelligence, but they see school as a strong institution that they trust and is important to them in tackling a range of social issues.
“They would also like the school to give more space for critical thinking, authentic dialogue and a shared effort to understand the contemporary world,” said Klara Sedova, SYRI’s scientific director. She added that young people perceive the importance of education, even outside of school, but this opens the way to various uncontrolled influences.
The survey took place in the autumn of last year, in the form of in-depth interviews with 33 people aged between 15 and 19 and another 35 respondents aged between 20 and 24. All levels of education were represented among the respondents. The questions were asked by students of Masaryk University in Brno. SYRI would like to follow up the survey with a quantitative questionnaire survey.
