“It’s Not Only about the COVID-19 Pandemic!”: Future Post- COVID-19 Expectations of Young People in Turkey

XX . ISA World Congres of Sociology, Melbourne, Avustralya, 25 Haziran - 01 Temmuz 2023, ss.770

“It’s Not Only about the COVID-19 Pandemic!”: Future Post-

COVID-19 Expectations of Young People in Turkey

Young people are one of the most important demographic groups affected

by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic affected many areas in the lives

of young people, such as education, economy, family, and friendship relations,

it left them in a web of change that they had to cope with and adapt Moreover,

issues such as unemployment that they were exposed to before the pandemic

became stronger in this process. The negative effects of the pandemic also

affected their expectations for the future. This study aims to reveal the post-

COVID future expectations of young people in Turkey The study’s data is based

on the project carried out during the first period of the Covid-19 pandemic,

which aims to understand the strategies of youth to cope with the pandemic

In-depth interviews were carried out with 40 young people between the ages

of 18-30 and were asked about their future post-COVID expectations The

study shows that young people are quite pessimistic about the future post-

COVID-19 However, it is not only the pandemic experience that underlies

these negative future expectations Firstly, young people are worried that

their freedom will be further restricted due to the existence of authoritarian

AKP rule in Turkey Secondly, they think that the neoliberal economy, which is

effective both in Turkey and in the world, affects them negatively, and it will be

almost impossible for them to find a job in the future. Finally, the climate crisis

emerges as another significant issue that worries young people who think they

will face a food and water crisis in the future Although most young people

have beliefs that the negative situations they experience will not improve in the

future, others prefer to control negative emotions to increase their productive

capacity because for them being pessimistic is not a solution