“How Dare You?” – The Influence of Fridays for Future on Political Attitudes of Young Adults

In the recent past, young adults in Europe and around the world have increasingly expressed their displeasure with existing policies. A major issue here are climate policies and the preservation of the earth for future generations, which is not secured by existing policies. Thus, young citizens increasingly demand action of politicians, as a common accusation here is the lack of responsiveness of these. At the same time, political socialization of young adults takes place, apart from the family, especially in school, where they learn to lead an independent life and to build their own political opinions. Designed as hierarchical institutions, the idea of schools is that the transfer of knowledge takes place in one direction. However, what happens when students question the political and the attached education system? This paper analyzes how the exogenous “shock” Fridays for Future influenced pupils’ perception of the responsiveness of politicians compared to other continuous skills pupils learn in school. Relying on a unique survey experiment among pupils from different school types and among students in the Rhine-Neckar region (around 350 respondents), we find that pupils primed for their Fridays for Future participation are more polarized regarding their perception of the responsiveness of politicians as compared to respondents that were not primed. However, when comparing protest participation to skills pupils learn in schools, the results demonstrate that continuous tasks of schools as preparing young citizens for leading professional life surpass the effect of protest participation. The results demonstrate that the participation in Fridays for Future is not a key factor to explain satisfaction with the political system of youth.