Study: ‘Young People’s Life Orientation’
The aim of the study ‘Life Orientations of Young People’, for which over 8,000 adolescents and young adults aged between 15 and 25 were surveyed in 2007, was to gain as nuanced a picture as possible of the significance that everyday ethics, morality and religion hold for this group today.
It was expressly not intended to determine a more or less pronounced ‘level of religiosity’ amongst the respondents. Rather, the results of the study were intended to serve as a basis for further reflection within academic and educational discourse.
The findings of the study can be divided into five main aspects
- For these young people, meaning in life arises to a large extent from doing and shaping things on their own initiative – yet at the same time, meaning is also understood in a transcendent sense, that is, in relation to the simple existence of important people in their lives, such as family or friends. It is therefore important, when designing lessons, to incorporate the question of the meaning of life – in line with a transcendent conception of existence – as a component of practical life wisdom.
- The 15–25 age group no longer seeks meaning primarily in their careers, as the concept of a lifelong career in a single profession is now obsolete. This must be taken into account, particularly when designing lessons at vocational schools. Nor does this generation’s search for meaning follow fundamentalist paths, as the strong emphasis on personal responsibility, combined with a partnership-based approach to relationships, leaves no room for this. Furthermore, it has become apparent that the majority of young people show hardly any need for ideological allegiance.
- By contrast, the experience of community—one not based on economic or performance-related principles—appears to be very important to young adults. Community, however, as a place where ‘accepted individuality’ is experienced, is something that must emerge organically and cannot be organised. This interpretation radically moves beyond conventional ideological interpretations of the concept of community. The duality between the need for community and the aforementioned desire for autonomy appears to function well. However, it is difficult to capture this within institutional frameworks. In the Christian community, which is encompassed by the ‘invisible church’, many young people are therefore unwilling to commit to a binding, long-term arrangement. This realisation increases the pressure – particularly, or even especially, in the school context – to question conventional interpretations of religious themes and to find new concepts of community, faith and congregation.
- As the study’s findings show, the concepts of conscience and the related notion of guilt are more closely tied to the realm of direct interpersonal interaction: conscience is, first and foremost, a means of guidance and correction for the ‘self within the private “we”’. However, the concept of conscience is never entirely stripped of its religious potential. The concept of guilt, on the other hand, is situated solely at the level of social relationships. As the relevance of the concept of guilt wanes, the Christian religion, as a religion of salvation, loses its significance. Interestingly, modern Islam reflects the psychological structures of young adults much more clearly here than Christianity does, as it has no concept of guilt but rather offers a promise of salvation based on a system of rules of conduct and thus on the feasibility of coexistence through proper rules. This, in turn, aligns with the concept of personal responsibility.
- The concept of sin, too, appears to hold little significance for young people nowadays. Rather, it has become a term that characterises the reprehensible behaviour of others, or that describes evil in the world. The concept of sin could and ought to be expanded once more to encompass the emotional dimensions that actually exist amongst young people, as it appears no longer to cover them.
The study demonstrates that young people’s emotions, in terms of their value orientation and perception of the world, can certainly be interpreted as part of a religious dimension. For seeing oneself as a ‘finite being’ in relation to the ‘infinite other’ naturally takes place primarily at the emotional level of perception. This can be articulated through language, but only for those who are able to establish a connection between language and emotional experience.
It is therefore the task of teachers, educationalists and academics to expand young adults’ linguistic competence in this regard. Conventional approaches to teaching religion must become more discursive and value-oriented in order to address, within the classroom discourse and in a reflective manner, what young adults consider to be ‘important in life’.