Fight
How Gen Z Is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics, Fight is an exploration of Gen Z, the issues that matter most to them, and how they will shape the future.
9/11. The war on terror. Hurricane Katrina. The 2008 financial crisis. The housing crisis. The opioid epidemic. Mass school shootings. Global warming. The Trump presidency. COVID-19.
Since they were born, Generation Z (also known as "zoomers")—those born from the late 1990s to early 2000s—have been faced with an onslaught of turmoil, destruction and instability unprecedented in modern history. And it shows: they are more stressed, anxious, and depressed than previous generations, a phenomenon John Della Volpe has documented heavily through decades of meeting with groups of young Americans across the country.
But Gen Z has not buckled under this tremendous weight. On the contrary, they have organized around issues from gun control to racial and environmental justice to economic equity, becoming more politically engaged than their elders, and showing a unique willingness to disrupt the status quo.
In Fight: How Gen Z Is Channeling Their Passion and Fear to Save America, Della Volpe draws on his vast experience to show the largest forces shaping zoomers' lives, the issues they care most about, and how they are—despite older Americans' efforts to label Gen Z as overly sensitive, lazy, and entitled—rising to the unprecedented challenges of their time to take control of their country and our future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics, debuts with a perceptive and informative survey of the motivations and values of Generation Z. Drawing on the annual "youth poll" he has conducted since 2000, Della Volpe explains how Americans born in the mid-1990s have been galvanized to political action by school shootings, economic uncertainty, and climate change. Young Americans have already pushed the country in a more progressive direction, according to Della Volpe, who notes the political rise of Bernie Sanders and companies' eagerness to respond to the "values and market potential of Gen Z." Documenting the rise of the "March for Our Lives" movement after the 2018 Parkland school shooting, Della Volpe paints a vivid picture of the mental strain gun violence has placed on America's youth. He also explores how the increase in racial harassment and violence in the Trump era cemented Gen Z's antiracist values, and forecasts that the age group's political ideals will lead to agricultural reforms, greater civic participation in the U.S., and more emphasis placed on "social wealth and capital," rather than economic success. Abundant statistical evidence and insightful analysis buttress Della Volpe's optimistic view that Gen Z can help lead America to a brighter future. This is the rare sociological study that manages to inspire.
