"
Do not oppose the elders to the young
", launched at the end of January the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher, on LCI.
However, "
56% of French people fear a conflict between generations,
" reveals an Odoxa poll for the Vulnerabilities and Society circle.
This “think & do tank”, created in January 2018, studies the issue of vulnerabilities in the social and health fields.
"
The tension between the generations is real even if it remains cyclical
", estimates the president of this think tank, Edouard de Hezzenel
.
“
But what can be done so that it does not become structural if the crisis lasts?
"
To read also: Jean-Pierre Robin: "The conflicts of generations are played out on two fronts, labor and capital"
The results of this survey, carried out among 1005 people, are worrying.
No less than 60% of 18-34 year olds fear a generational conflict in the coming months.
These young people would also be the first collateral victims of the pandemic.
Respondents are 81% to believe that "
young people and students are the most poorly taken into account in government decisions
".
A proven risk of conflict?
Would the conflict between young people and their elders therefore be inevitable?
Sociologist Olivier Galland is temporizing.
Author of "
Sociology of Youth
", he believes that "
the generational shock is a received idea."
Emeritus research director at the CNRS, he specializes in the sociology of ages and inequalities.
Skeptical of Odoxa's figures, he points to the permanent pessimism of the French.
After having defeated the notion of
“sacrificed generation”
, this sociologist reminds
Le Figaro
that the values between the different generations, since the 1960s, have continuously come closer.
"There are no longer any cultural fractures,"
adds Olivier Galland.
He observes that it is the official discourse which gives "
an inequity
" between the youth and the seniors.
"There is a risk of intergenerational conflict"
Edouard de Hezzenel, president of the Vulnerabilities and Society circle
Edouard de Hezzenel stresses for his part that the two generations surveyed "
share the mutual feeling of not being understood in their difficulties
", since the start of the pandemic.
Still according to the survey, 70% of those 65 and over feel misunderstood in their difficulties.
34% of these older people went through a depressive state.
The 18-34 year olds are 57% to have this feeling and 56% to feel psychological problems.
“
There is a risk of intergenerational conflict, even if health remains the priority of both generations.
The public authorities today act as a lightning rod.
», Says
Le Figaro
, the president of the Cercle Vulnerabilities et Société.
Monday February 16, Brigitte Bourguignon reacted strongly on Twitter to the announcements of the Circle.
The Minister, in charge of Autonomy, replied: “
There is no generation sacrificed, there are only generations who suffer from the crisis, whatever the age.
Our priority, to protect the most vulnerable to better fight against # COVID19.
This conflict between generations is irrelevant.
"
59% of young people for a re-containment of the oldest
For a new reconfinement, the survey shows
"a disagreement which is proportionately increasing according to the age of the people",
indicates the group Vulnerabilities and Society.
Odoxa has estimated that 56% of French people are opposed to a new confinement only affecting the oldest and most vulnerable, while 59% of 18-34 year olds are in favor.
“
This figure testifies to a fed up, desperate young people and therefore a lack of education on the part of the public authorities.
But these results must be read with caution,
”observes Edouard de Hezzenel.
A survey "
to put into perspective
"
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, Viviane Kovess-Masféty, psychiatrist and epidemiologist, also calls for this survey to be put into perspective.
A specialist in surveys of mental health and risk factors in adults and children, she expresses her skepticism about the reality of a generational divide.
“
Major disagreements do not mean civil war.
These figures should not be dramatized
, ”she said.
“
Disagreements between generations have always existed.
Likewise, the confinement of the elderly is no longer relevant, given that vaccination is accelerating,
”she said.