Authors

• Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (Nuora)
• Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network

Keywords

European Union, contemporary society, political institutions, political participation, social protest, trust, values, voting, youth

Abstract

The main themes of the survey were young people's trust in institutions, political participation and attitudes towards various aspects of Finnish society.

Trust in institutions was charted by asking to what extent the respondents trust political parties, public officials, trade unions, the Church, the armed forces, the police, Parliament, municipal council, the EU, the President, banks, big companies and the legal system. Willingness to participate (in a demonstration, strike, boycott, violence against political decision-making, squatting, signing petition etc) for an important cause was surveyed. Further questions asked to what extent the respondents accepted the activities of particular groups (squatters, motor cycle gangs, animal rights activists, skinheads, graffiti makers, the new Nazis) and to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to moral values. The statements pertained, for instance, to acceptability of buying stole property, selling drugs, moonlighting, benefit fraud, truancy.

One topic covered the respondents' membership and participation in different types of voluntary or civic organisations such as political parties, sports clubs, environmental organisations, trade unions etc. Views were probed on how important the decisions made by different bodies (e.g. municipal council, Parliament, trade unions, the EU, banks, educational institutions) were to their own life.

The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to, for instance, racism, democracy, unemployment, number of refugees, Finland's EU membership, social security benefits, and social inequality in Finland. One theme pertained to how important the respondents considered it to be that Finland promoted certain issues in the EU (e.g. peace, employment, equality between men and women, Nordic welfare society, crime prevention, human rights, relations with Russia).

Views were probed on what should the most important issue for Finnish decision-makers at that moment and how much influence the respondents thought certain bodies would have on the state of affairs in the future (e.g. the Church, political parties, Amnesty International, Red Cross, environmental organisations, trade unions). Voting intentions were charted by asking whether the respondents intended to vote in the upcoming municipal and European Parliament elections.

Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, basic and vocational education, economic activity, type of municipality and the parents' vocational education.