By Bella Holt

Over the summer, the Yale Youth Poll released data that subverted every stereotype about Gen Z’s political stances. The study, which polled the 2026 congressional elections, found that while those aged 22-29 (the older end of Gen Z) preferred Democratic candidates by 6.4%, those aged 18-21 (the younger end of Gen Z) preferred Republican candidates by a whopping 11.7%. This statistic may seem like an outlier against the generally accepted truth that Gen Z is the most woke generation. However, it’s actually reflective of a much larger social and ideological shift. As I see it, the younger members of Gen Z are turning away from the progressivism and social justice movements they grew up with.

Growing up in the 2000s and 2010s, Gen Z spent their most formative years watching the rise of social justice movements such as #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and the climate movement. This period of progressivism only heightened with COVID-19, when social media exposed the generation to various social justice issues and urged them to “get woke.” I recall how, as a result of our newfound activism, our grade protested the use of the term “American Indian” in a reading for Class III homework, and organized a classwide tank-top-wearing demonstration because our classmate was dress-coded. Perhaps our reactions were overkill–as Biology Teacher and member of Gen Z Ms. Elizondo points out, “the profusion of information [on social media] can easily become an illusion of knowing, causing many people to speak with more conviction than perhaps is warranted from their lived experience.” Nonetheless, our reactions displayed our staunch progressive values.

Today, people mock this era of social justice and wokeness in general. Out of the millions of TikTok videos under the hashtag “cringe,” top-watched ones ridicule videos from the early 2020s for being too politically correct. Under videos posted by people who look stereotypically woke, comment sections are flooded with phrases such as “Septum Ring Theory” or “POV: your too woke friend.” Septum Ring Theory in particular argues that anyone displaying alternative fashion–such as septum rings–is most likely a liberal and therefore too sensitive or illogical. These examples display how wokeness no longer carries the same positive connotation today as it did in 2020. It is now encouraged to abandon these values for more “normal”—conservative—ones

But Gen Z’s conservative shift goes beyond anti-wokeness; it also manifests in microaggressions. “Jokes” such as “black fatigue,” a term describing one’s annoyance with “ghetto” behavior, and “usual suspects,” a comment made in response to news of a crime committed by a person of color, exemplify the blatant racism disguised as humor that has permeated social media. Beyond this casual discrimination, McCabe also notes that these are “jokes that would not have flown three years ago,” when our generation was still concerned with being as non-problematic as possible.

Although they are ideological contradictions, Gen Z’s social and political struggle against progressive values seems to be a direct result of the idealization of wokeness in the early 2020s. Having experienced one end of the political spectrum during that period, it only makes sense that the political pendulum is now swinging back. Still, as someone who “stayed woke” after 2020, I believe that progressive values encourage one to stay aware and critical of our current world. The more we ignore these indications of conservatism, the more prone we are to falling ignorant and passive to our tumultuous political climate today.