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Key points
- Gen Z is often misunderstood and characterized as politically uninvolved.
- More members are eligible to vote than ever before and are engaged in a diversity of political activities.
- Gen Z is primed to imagine alternatives that push us toward social change.
Generation Z, oftentimes referred to as “Gen Z” or “Zoomers,” is distinct from other generations that preceded it. Gen Z is the most racially diverse generation yet, with 49% of the population identifying as non-white and projected to be majority non-white by 2026. Zoomers are more likely to be the children of immigrants than their Millennial peers (22% compared to 14%). With issues of race and racism as well as immigration and xenophobia front and center in this election cycle, Gen Z is intimately aware of the impacts these policy changes can have on their lives. The story often told about the uniqueness of this generation centers on members being “digital natives” growing up in a world saturated with social media and information at their fingertips. Yet, there is so much more that makes this generation unique and sets it up to meet this political moment.
Currently, Gen Z is coming of age as adolescents and emerging adults. These periods of life present unique developmental opportunities to challenge the status quo and meet this political moment. Neurologically, adolescents’ brains are wired to seek out new experiences. Cognitive capacities come online that allow for abstract thinking alongside a sensitivity to rewards. The prefrontal cortex, or the “regulation” area of the brain, is still developing through emerging adulthood.
In the past, these changes in the brain were blamed for adolescents and emerging adults engaging in negative risk-taking behaviors (i.e., activities that threaten one’s health and well-being). More recently, however, psychologists identified that these developmental changes provide the hardware that allows them to imagine new and innovative solutions to problems, engage in prosocial behavior and take “positive” risks. In fact, adolescents’ and emerging adults’ brains hold a superpower to see the world and the systems that structure their experiences with fresh eyes. They are primed to imagine alternatives that push us toward social change.
As adolescents emerge into adulthood, they become more aware of the social mirror and their reflections in it. Gen Z is characterized as being more in tune with injustice, and for good reason. Unlike generations that have come before, Gen Z is looking into an uncertain future of unprecedented and interlocking crises. Ongoing racialized and sexualized state-sponsored and interpersonal violence, unprecedented student debt, and rollbacks to reproductive health and gender affirming care are experienced amidst a backdrop of worsening climate crisis. These crises may make it difficult for Gen Zers to imagine themselves in the future tense, yet they have also led many to engage in social activism to promote social change.
Adolescents and emerging adults often find they have more agency and opportunities to engage in their communities to support meaningful change. In the research our team has done, emerging adulthood is a time of life when political agency comes to the fore. It is a time of life when understandings of social inequality come into focus and are met with increasing agency to resist oppression and speak to power. Participants across multiple studies report being highly engaged in activities to support social change during this time of life. This can take on many forms, such as organizing a demonstration or protest, supporting community members through advocacy and translation efforts, volunteering to support a cause they care about, and even speaking to others across political divides to bridge understanding.
Gen Z is often cast as politically uninvolved. Currently, more members of Gen Z are eligible to vote than ever before, with 41 million members of Gen Z eligible to vote in the upcoming election. Beyond casting their votes, we see examples of Gen Zers working toward social change as they spearhead campus protests, organize for policy reform, and even enter the halls of congress as elected representatives.
As Gen Z comes of age politically, opportunities to rethink the status quo and imagine a future that supports healthy development abound. Gen Z is poised to meet this socio-political moment with the potential to bring about change and innovatively tackle the problems laid by prior generations. As their political story continues to unfold, we all stand to benefit from the unique insights of this generation for our collective futures.
