Youth. Climate. Right-wing Extremism
Mon., February 23, 202612:00 - 1:30 pm ET (US)
Zoom Webinar
About the Event
Climate change and the rise of the far right are challenging the future of democracy. What strategies can be observed among the far right with regard to climate change? And how do those whose future is at stake view this issue? The authors of the book „Jugend. Klima. Rechtsextremismus” (“Youth. Climate. Right-wing extremism”) surveyed young people in a Germany-wide study. The results clearly showed that while many young people reject right-wing narratives on climate issues, some right-wing positions also meet with approval. Marleen Hascher and Ann-Katrin Kastberg from the team of authors will present the key findings of their study.
The research focuses on the complex interactions between climate change, regional transformation processes and the political attitudes of teenagers and young adults with regard to democratic and anti-democratic orientations. With a particular focus on the role of far-right actors and ideologies, the study aims to explain how far-right groups exploit the issue of climate change and the resulting socio-ecological transformation dynamics and crisis scenarios.
About the Speakers
Ann-Katrin Kastberg, MA, is a PhD student at the Institute for Human Geography and the Institute for Social Research at Goethe University Frankfurt/Main since 2023. She was a research assistant at the Institute for Democratic Culture at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences from 2023 until 2025. She studied sociology and cultural/social anthropology in Berlin, Münster and Mumbai and worked in various roles (tutor, exhibition manager, public relations) at the Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism at the Technical University Berlin from 2019 until 2022. Her current qualitative research focuses on sociological and social-psychological approaches to authoritarianism and socio-ecological transformation.
Website: https://www.ifs.uni-frankfurt.
Marleen Hascher, M.A., studied social sciences at Humboldt University in Berlin. After completing her master's degree, she worked as a research assistant on the projects “Right-wing extremism in areas undergoing ecological transformation: discourse opportunities, channels of resonance, and democratic alternatives” and “Integrative democracy research in the state of Saxony-Anhalt” at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at the same university on the topic of “Anti-Semitism in Ecological Movements”. Website: https://idk-lsa.de/hascher/