Young, political, committed ? Perspectives instead of clichés – a look at the youth of today

Thursday, 6th March 2025 at 6.15 pm
Location: Lycée de Garçons Luxembourg – LGL

‘We’ll strike until you act!’; “You do your homework, then we’ll do ours!” These and many other statements could be read on the posters of the demonstrators of the Fridays for Future movement around the world. In Luxembourg, too, the climate
movement reached its peak in 2019, with around 7,000 young people taking to the streets. In 2023, the youth organisation ‘Youth for Climate’, the main organiser of the climate protests, officially disbanded. Is that the end of youth activism? Not at all, if the results of the recently published 19th Shell Youth Study are to be believed. The study, which has been analysing and publishing the attitudes, values, habits and social behaviour of young people (aged 12 to 25) in Germany every four years since 1953, recently published a new edition with the subtitle ‘Pragmatic between disenchantment and lived diversity’. One of the study’s many exciting findings is that young people’s interest in politics has increased significantly in recent years. What is important to young people like us? What is behind the cliché of the ‘work-shy’ Gen Z? What about our self-efficacy, our trust in the future and who do we see as responsible for (political) change? What are our goals in life, our values? These and other questions will be discussed by domestic and foreign experts during the course of a stimulating conference evening.

Programme of the conference (6.15 pm to 8.00 pm)

• Welcome and introduction

	• The Shell Study, the results of one of the leading studies on the attitudes and values of young people: This is considered a reference in youth research and has been conducted since 1953. Ingo Leven, one of the people responsible for the study, will present the results and trends of the Shell Youth Study. He is head of the research area ‘Family, Education, Civil Society’ at the research institute Verian (formerly Kantar Public) and co-author of the 19th Shell Youth Study, will present the results and trends of the study
	• Current research findings and developments concerning young people in Luxembourg Afterwards, Dr Caroline Residori, youth researcher at the University of Luxembourg and co-author of the ‘Youth Survey Luxembourg’ and Andreas Heinen, graduate sociologist and youth researcher, will give us  insights into current research results and developments regarding the socio-political role of young people in Luxembourg.
	• Question and discussion round Enough input, then, for a subsequent question and discussion round about the attitudes of young people at home and abroad, their civic engagement, their experiences, perceptions and empirical developments.
	• Exchange during a subsequent patt with small snacks

Thank you for registering for the conference by 5 March. This will make it easier for us to organise: inscription@meco.lu.

The conference will be in german and simultaneously translated into English

You are cordially invited to visit the information stands of the Zentrum fir politesch Bildung (ZpB) and the Jugendrot before and after the event.

The event is aimed at people of all ages who are interested in the attitudes of (other) young people, are interested in knowing what motivates young people today or are involved in youth work.

! The workshop will be held in Luxembourgish !

Are you particularly interested:
Then take part in the in-depth workshop on
March 7th at the Oekozenter Pafendall :

Civil Society & Youth Engagement in Luxembourg
The following day, an in-depth workshop will take place at the Pafendall Ecocentre between
9 am and 12 noon (followed by the opportunity to have lunch together).
This is aimed at school pupils and young people, representatives from youth organisations,
youth work professionals and other stakeholders to analyse the study results and develop
concrete recommendations for action together with Ingo Leven, co-author of the 19th Shell
Youth Study and contributions from Dr Caroline Residori and Andreas Heinen.
The focus is on the question of how young people can best be supported in their civic engagement.
Key topics such as motivation, barriers and success factors for youth engagement will be
discussed together. The aim is to develop practical strategies that strengthen the promotion of
participation, the provision of suitable support services and the development of sustainable
structures for engagement. The workshop offers space for the exchange of perspectives, the
sharing of best practices and the development of innovative solutions to maximise the potential
of young people in civil society within their own sphere of influence.
Participation in the conference the day before is strongly encouraged for the workshop, as
the workshop builds on the information from the previous day.

A registration for the workshop is necessary by March 4th : 

You can download the invitation here.

19.02.2025