{{short description|Interest in democratic socialism among Americans}} {{use American English|date=June 2021}} {{use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
'''Millennial socialism''' is a resurgence of interest in [[democratic socialism]] and [[social democracy]] among Americans and Britons typically defined as being born from 1981 to 1996, generationally known as [[millennials]].
== Background ==
According to some studies, American [[millennial]]s are more supportive of aspects of [[socialist]] politics than prior generations.{{r|dystopian}} Some American millennials support policies that would widen [[social safety net]]s and provide relief for [[student debt]] and [[Health care in the United States|health care]] costs.{{r|Wallace}} In some late 2010s polls, young Americans viewed socialism positively and had a less favorable view of [[capitalism]] than older Americans.<!--2018 Gallup--><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Solis |first1=Marie |title=Why Gen Z Is Turning to Socialism |work=[[Vice (website)|Vice]] |date=2020-05-04 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/gen-z-socialism-ydsa/ |language=en |access-date=2021-06-19 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=May 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515100737/https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5xz7j/gen-z-socialism-ydsa |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- more to paraphrase in source --><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Salmon |first1=Felix |title=More Americans aged between 18 and 24 prefer 'socialism' to 'capitalism' |work=[[Axios (website)|Axios]] |date=2019-01-27 |url=https://www.axios.com/socialism-capitalism-poll-generation-z-preference-1ffb8800-0ce5-4368-8a6f-de3b82662347.html |language=en |access-date=2021-06-19 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=June 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605202100/https://www.axios.com/socialism-capitalism-poll-generation-z-preference-1ffb8800-0ce5-4368-8a6f-de3b82662347.html |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- 2019 SurveyMonkey, within margin of error so not the best poll --><ref name=mahb>{{cite web|url=https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/youth-reject-capitalism/|title=Today's youth reject capitalism, but what do they want to replace it?|author=JOseph Blasi, Douglas L Kruse|date=2018-04-10}}</ref> According to a 2021 ''[[Axios (website)|Axios]]'' poll, 49% of Americans aged 18 to 34 viewed capitalism positively, compared to 58% in 2019.<ref>{{cite news |last=Salmon |first=Felix |date=June 25, 2021 |title=America's continued move toward socialism |url=https://www.axios.com/americas-continued-move-toward-socialism-84a0dda7-4b8d-483a-8c4e-0c2e562c4e67.html |work=Axios |location= |access-date=June 28, 2021}}</ref> Capitalism, increasingly dissociated from its connotations of American success during the [[Cold War]], developed an association with [[corporate greed]], exacerbating [[climate change]],{{r|Wallace}} and [[Inheritance#Inequality|inherited wealth]].<ref name=mahb /> Some commentators and researchers, such as James Pethokoukis of the [[American Enterprise Institute]] and Emily Ekins of the [[Cato Institute]], have argued that millennial support for socialism can be more accurately described as support for [[social democracy]], as opposed to socialism as traditionally conceived (e.g., a [[planned economy]]).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pethokoukis |first1=James |title=Some thoughts of Millennials, Socialism and Scandinavia |url=https://www.aei.org/economics/some-thoughts-about-millennials-socialism-and-scandinavia/ |website=American Enterprise Institute|date=May 20, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Millennials believe in free markets and want a Scandinavian welfare state |url=https://promarket.org/2016/03/25/millennials-believe-in-free-markets-and-want-a-scandinavian-welfare-state/ |website=Promarket|date=March 25, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ekins |first1=Emily |title=Why so many millennials are socialists. |url=https://www.cato.org/commentary/why-so-many-millennials-are-socialists}}</ref>
As a generation, American millennials grew up with political discussions about class and [[Economic inequality|inequality]], the youngest millennials having been teenagers during the 2011 [[Occupy Wall Street]] movement.{{r|Beery}} Young Americans generally face worse economic prospects than their forebears, including a higher cost of living,{{r|Wallace}} and an increased student debt burden.{{r|Beery}} A 2019 [[SuperMoney]] report showed that average millennial income growth is flat after [[inflation]].{{r|Wallace}}
== Electoral politics ==
The American [[democratic socialist]] politicians [[Bernie Sanders]] and [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]] have enjoyed support among millennials, with 70% saying they would be supportive of a candidate with a socialist background.<ref name=Wallace>{{Cite web |last1=Wallace |first1=Danielle |title=What is millennial socialism? |work=[[Fox News]] |date=2020-01-30 |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/millenial-socialism-bernie-sanders-ocasio-cortez-aoc |language=en-US|quote=Seventy percent of millennials – and 64 percent of Gen Z – answered that they'd be somewhat or extremely likely to vote for a socialist candidate, according to a poll conducted by data and research firm YouGov last September for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. |accessdate=2020-04-05 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=March 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303084053/https://www.foxnews.com/us/millenial-socialism-bernie-sanders-ocasio-cortez-aoc |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- ✓ --> A 2019 [[YouGov]] poll showed a majority of millennial respondents as likely to vote for a socialist candidate{{r|Wallace}} and millennial voters in the [[2020 Democratic presidential primary]] preferred the democratic socialist candidate Sanders over [[Joe Biden]] by 20 percentage points. Throughout the late 2010s, millennials revitalized the aging [[Democratic Socialists of America]] from a marginalized advocacy group to 100,000 members nationwide.<ref name=Beery>{{Cite news |last1=Beery |first1=Zoë |title=The Rich Kids Who Want to Tear Down Capitalism |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2020-11-27 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/style/trust-fund-activism-resouce-generation.html |access-date=June 19, 2021 |archive-date=May 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508154926/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/style/trust-fund-activism-resouce-generation.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Sanders and millennial socialists invoke the [[Nordic model]] as an alternative, in which taxes on markets and a high personal income tax, including of the middle class, fund the government.{{r|Wallace}}
[[Jeremy Corbyn]] of the [[United Kingdom]] [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] had a similarly energizing effect on his country's millennials, though while he tripled the political party's size to become the largest in western Europe, its growth was not driven primarily by young people: the average age remained similar to that before the expansion.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Mead |first1=Julia |title=Why Millennials Aren't Afraid of Socialism |work=[[The Nation]] |date=2017-01-10 |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-millennials-arent-afraid-of-the-s-word/ |language=en-US |issn=0027-8378 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
== Analysis == A 2019 [[Pew Research]] poll found that millennials were more distrustful of others than prior generations, suggesting that millennial socialist interest in [[state intervention]] might stem less from belief in human goodness and social trust, and more from a lack of such trust.<ref name=dystopian>{{Cite web |last1=Levitz |first1=Eric |title=America's Most Socialist Generation Is Also Its Most Misanthropic |work=Intelligencer |date=2019-08-15 |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/polls-millennials-and-gen-zers-are-dystopian-socialists.html |language=en-us |access-date=2021-06-19 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308234533/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/polls-millennials-and-gen-zers-are-dystopian-socialists.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Economist [[Ed Glaeser]] credits "boomer socialism" for the rise of millennial socialism. Although [[baby boomers]] (born 1946 to 1964) have an unfavorable view of [[socialism]], baby boomers had [[Social democracy|social democratic]] programs such as [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]], and [[Home mortgage interest deduction|subsidized mortgages]].{{r|Wallace}}
== See also == * [[Socialism of the 21st century]] * [[Youth politics]] * [[Youth activism]]
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == {{refbegin}} * {{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Alexander |title=There Is a Revolution on the Left. Democrats Are Bracing. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2018-07-22 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/us/politics/democratic-party-midterms.html |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |df=mdy-all |access-date=July 29, 2018 |archive-date=July 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730063731/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/us/politics/democratic-party-midterms.html |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |title=Democratic socialism surging in the age of Trump |work=[[AP News]] |date=2018-07-21 |url=https://apnews.com/a1770fd620d94bf58d0ff1035d3e0eea |language=en |accessdate=2018-07-29 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=July 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729213609/https://apnews.com/a1770fd620d94bf58d0ff1035d3e0eea |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Isaac |first1=Jeffrey C. |title=Millennial Socialism and Its Limits |work=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]] |date=2019-07-30 |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/millennial-socialism-and-its-limits/ |language=en-US |access-date=2021-06-19 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202222228/https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/millennial-socialism-and-its-limits |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |last=Lemon |first=Jason |date=June 25, 2021 |title=Majority of Gen Z Americans Hold Negative Views of Capitalism: Poll |url=https://www.newsweek.com/majority-gen-z-americans-hold-negative-views-capitalism-poll-1604334 |work=Newsweek |location= |access-date=June 27, 2021}} * {{cite web |last1=Jacobson |first1=Gavin |title=The rise of millennial socialism |work=The New Statesman |date=2019-06-05 |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/06/aaron-bastani-fully-automated-luxury-communism-bhaskar-sunkara-manifesto-milennial-socialism-review |language=en |accessdate=2020-04-05 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=January 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113211955/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/06/aaron-bastani-fully-automated-luxury-communism-bhaskar-sunkara-manifesto-milennial-socialism-review |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=McGreal |first1=Chris |title='The S-word': how young Americans fell in love with socialism |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=2017-09-02 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/02/socialism-young-americans-bernie-sanders |language=en |access-date=2021-06-19 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=May 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506070625/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/02/socialism-young-americans-bernie-sanders |url-status=live }} * {{cite journal |last1=Niemietz |first1=Kristian |title=Millennial Socialism: Same old, same old |journal=Economic Affairs |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=424–432 |date=October 2019 |language=en |doi=10.1111/ecaf.12368 |s2cid=211669858 |issn=0265-0665 |df=mdy-all }} * {{cite news |title=Out of left field: Millennial socialists want to shake up the economy and save the climate |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=2019-02-14 |url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2019/02/14/millennial-socialists-want-to-shake-up-the-economy-and-save-the-climate |issn=0013-0613 |df=mdy-all |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405165115/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2019/02/14/millennial-socialists-want-to-shake-up-the-economy-and-save-the-climate |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |title=The fire next time: What would millennial socialists do with power? |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=2019-11-28 |url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/11/28/what-would-millennial-socialists-do-with-power |issn=0013-0613 |df=mdy-all |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405165306/https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/11/28/what-would-millennial-socialists-do-with-power |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |title=The resurgent left: Millennial socialism |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=2019-02-19 |url=https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/02/14/millennial-socialism |issn=0013-0613 |df=mdy-all |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405165025/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/02/14/millennial-socialism |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |last1=Vallespín |first1=Fernando |title=Análisis – Socialismo milenial en EE UU |work=El País |date=2019-03-10 |url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/07/ideas/1551972909_806992.html |language=es |issn=1134-6582 |location=Madrid |df=mdy-all |access-date=June 26, 2020 |archive-date=June 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608231636/https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/07/ideas/1551972909_806992.html |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Zuylen-Wood |first1=Simon van |title=When Did Everyone Become a Socialist? |work=Intelligencer |date=2019-03-03 |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/socialism-and-young-socialists.html |language=en-us |access-date=2021-06-19 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=May 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516070653/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/socialism-and-young-socialists.html |url-status=live }} {{refend}}
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[[Category:21st century in the United States]] [[Category:Cultural generations]] [[Category:Socialism in the United States]] [[Category:Millennials|Socialism]] [[Category:Socialism in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Social democracy]] [[Category:Democratic socialism]]