The rise of the far-right has been quite well documented over the last few years and the results of the recent European election have confirmed this inevitable trend. There’s no denying the fact that conservatism as an ideology has been experiencing a rapid increase in popularity, especially among the so-called Generation Z.
Recent studies conducted by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation suggest that Gen Z teens are twice as likely to identify as more conservative than their parents than millennials were 20 years ago. Over the last decades, these people who are now entering their adulthood and will increasingly take away government offices from the older generations, have lived in a world of “wokeism”, political correctness, erosion of traditional family structures, decline of religion and misunderstanding of the concepts of feminism, cultural and gender identity.
The 2000s and the 2010s was the time when conservative movements from the political establishment had to give way to more progressive ones. They agreed to pursue an increasingly more liberal agenda, such as legalizing same-sex marriage, becoming more politically correct, and adopting multiculturalism policies. At the same time, they betrayed traditional Christian values and morals to the detriment of their own reputation. Now a new wave of conservative ideologues is emerging in Europe and they are becoming increasingly more popular among the younger generation.
One of these examples is Joan Bardella, head of Marine Le Pen’s “National Front” Party. The 28-year-old politician who was once the second youngest MEPs in the history of the European Parliament has become a star in social media, especially TikTok He got over 1 million followers in the last three years and in 2023, the JDD journal named him among the top-50 French celebrities (Bardella became the only politician to enter that list). In numerous videos, Bardella drinks alcohol in bars, uses viral music trends, not missing the opportunity to share moments of his hectic life next to smiling women or his boss Marine Le Pen.
All this made the rather young politician a Gen Z favourite. An Ipsos study published in March, valued his popularity among French residents aged 18 to 24 at 31%. For comparison, President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance (RE) party has only 4% in this age bracket. But Bardella is also popular among the older generation: he is supported by 40% of French people aged 50-59 and 31% of those aged 60-69. Ahead of the French parliamentary election, it is a no brainer that Bardella will become the new head of government, and the new “cohabitation” process will cause headaches for French President E.Macron.
But it Is not only politicians who are driving this trend towards more conservatism. Young men from Generation Z are increasingly more affected by the so-called “alpha-male” culture. Such media personalities as Jordan Peterson, Andrew Tate, Ben Shapiro are also driving this trend. Separately, each of them is a harmless media personality who does not really define any cultural trends, but put together they constitute a massive conservative movement impacting lives of Gen Z men.
There have already been reports of Gen Z boys and men being more likely than baby boomers to believe feminism to be harmful. One in six men aged 16-29 in Great Britain hold the view that feminism has done more harm than good. Larger proportions of young men believe than it is harder to be a man nowadays than a woman than before. Young demoralized men who have been brought down by the culture of wokeism are now speaking up against these trends.
Another popular media personality is Spanish Alvise Perez’s “Se Acabó la Fiesta” Movement. Having more than 500,000 followers on Telegram, he speaks up against the woke culture. In December 2023, he invited to his podcast former head of the Spanish football federation Luis Rubiales, who was fired because of an incident where he kissed female football player Jenni Hermoso after the women’s football teams won the European Championship. Rubiales has since become ostracized because of the female football players allegations of sexual abuse, and Alvise Perez game him a platform to speak his truth, gaining huge popularity in the process.
All in all, conservatism is on the rise among Gen Z, especially among young men who have been disillusioned with the overwhelming “wokeism”. It seems like far-right politics, which would not have been considered far-right at all if they emerged 20 years ago, have now become the new cool trend. Europe will have to react accordingly.
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