Indian Youth In A Transforming World: Attitudes and Perception
The Indian Youth study was commissioned in 2007, as an international expansion of the national German youth survey - Shell Youth. It includes 7 rubrics of surveys and accompanying case studies by noted scholars along different rubrics to gauge social and political attitudes, realities, and aspirations of the Indian youth. The report explores the social circles, material positions (through economic standing and opportunities available, or lack thereof), attitudes towards governance, politics and governance. The case studies included with each survey report were chosen for the relevance of their sites to economic and cultural modernity, accounts of youth responses to modernity, different perspectives of youth and those concerning political resistance to the changing Indian democracy.
The first survey is on "Trust and Circles of Belonging". It approaches the social circles of Indian youth to gauge the belongingness felt by the Indian youth and the level of trust shared between those with whom the youth interact.
The second study, "Family and Social Networks", explores the associations of youths with their family and social networks. The study focuses on youth attitudes to family values( of marriage, gender, and parental authority) and norms.
The third study, "Leisure and Lifestyle", explores the lifestyle patterns of India and aims to understand leisure attitudes of Indian youth with different lifestyles in terms of their socio-economic status, employment. The study explores attitudes and prevalence of different leisure activities such as internet usage, television, alcohol consumption, fashion, etc.
Chapter 4, "Politics and Democracy", explores youth interest and trust in politics and democracy. The study explores youth participation in democratic political activities such as protests and rallies.
In the fifth study, "Governance and Development", gauges youth attitudes to socio-economic issues such as unemployment and poverty concerning the socio-economic status of respondents. It also explores youth attitudes towards concerns of healthcare, education, reservations and gender equality.
The penultimate chapter, "Nation and the World", explores youth attitudes towards India and its positionality in the new globalised world. Attitudes on foreign employment, expanding markets of cheap imports, dominance of the US and India's relationship with neighbouring countries have been explored in the study. The chapter assesses awareness about globalisation, positive or negative perceptions of globalisation and its effects on society and the economy.
The final chapter, "Anxiety and Aspirations", explores the youth's perceptions and ideas of their future (whether optimistic or not), future anxieties depending upon various life experiences and challenges faced by youth. The study also explores how and why the may perspectives differ across spectrums.
The study was conducted through surveys at 320 locations across India with a sample of 5000 respondents and an additional booster sample of 1976. The field work for the study was conducted in 2007.
