Ideological and political polarization of young people in slovenia: a comparative analysis in the context of european post-socialist countries

Temeljni namen magistrske naloge je bil raziskati trende na področju politične in ideološke polarizacije mladih v Sloveniji od leta 2000 do leta 2020 ter primerjati aktualne stopnje polariziranosti s stopnjami iz drugih postsocialističnih držav. Raziskovalna vprašanja smo analizirali s pomočjo sekundarne analize podatkov. V prvem sklopu smo uporabili podatke iz treh raziskav mladih v Sloveniji: Mladina 2000, Mladina 2010 in Mladina 2020, v drugem sklopu pa podatke iz raziskav FES Youth in East Europe (YEE) studies 2021 ter Youth Studies Southeast Europe 2018/2019. Rezultati analiz kažejo, da je slovenska mladina v opazovanem dvajsetletnem obdobju postala bistveno bolj politično in ideološko polarizirana. Politična polarizacija se je še posebej zaostrila med leti 2018 in 2020, ko sta, predvsem zaradi porasta politične desnice, postala deleža mladih na političnih ekstremih skoraj popolnoma izenačena. V tej zvezi je zanimiva ugotovitev, da je samoopredelitev na politični osi povezana predvsem z elementi kulturnega razkola, bistveno manj pa z ekonomskimi vprašanji. Naši rezultati tudi nakazujejo na dva različna vzorca vrednotnih sprememb, ki vodita do krepitve ideološke polariziranosti. Pri prvem se polarizacija kaže kot izraz vmesnega stanja v okviru enosmernega vrednotnega prehoda, drugi vzorec polarizacije pa lahko povežemo z zasukom v dolgoročnem vrednotnem trendu. V primerjavi z mladimi iz drugih postsocialističnih držav je slovenska mladina nadpovprečno kulturno liberalna, antiavtoritarna in evroskeptična ter nadpovprečno polarizirana okoli vprašanja podpore ideji močnega voditelja in državnega lastništva podjetij. Med mladimi v Sloveniji opažamo tudi zelo visoke stopnje ideološke konsolidacije, takoj za Poljsko in Kosovom, kar pomeni, da je samo-izražena politična orientacija nadpovprečno povezana z ideološko nasičenimi vprašanji. Tudi v tej primerjavi se izkaže, da je slovenska mladina na obeh političnih polih izrazito konsolidirana predvsem na področju kulturnih, manj pa na področju ekonomskih vprašanj.The main purpose of the master\u27s thesis was to investigate trends in the field of political and ideological polarization of young people in Slovenia from 2000 to 2020 and to compare current levels of polarization with levels from other former socialist countries. The research questions were analysed using secondary data analysis. In the first part, we used data from three surveys of young people in Slovenia: Mladina 2000, Mladina 2010 and Mladina 2020, and in the second set, data from research FES Youth in East Europe (YEE) studies 2021, as well as Youth Studies Southeast Europe 2018/2019. The results of the analyses show that the Slovene youth have become significantly more politically and ideologically polarized in the observed twenty-year period. Political polarization was especially intensified between 2018 and 2020, when, mainly due to the rise of the political right, the shares of young people at the political extremes became almost completely equal. In this connection, it is interesting to note that self-definition on the political axis is mainly related to the elements of the cultural divide, and significantly less to economic issues. Our results also suggest two distinct patterns in changes of values leading to the strengthening of ideological polarization. In the first case, the polarization appears as an expression of an intermediate state within a one-way value transition, while the second polarization pattern can be associated with a twist in the long-term values trend. Compared to young people from other ex-socialist countries, Slovene youth are above average culturally liberal, anti-authoritarian and Eurosceptic, and more polarized around the issue of support for the idea of a strong leader and state ownership of companies. We also observe very high levels of ideological consolidation among young people in Slovenia, right after Poland and Kosovo, which means that the self-expressed political orientation is above average connected with ideologically saturated issues. Even in this comparison, it turns out that the Slovene youth in both political spheres is strongly consolidated, especially in the field of culture, but less so in the field of economic issues