Between August and September 2022, Dentsu Institute and Dentsu Global Business Center conducted a “Changemaker Survey” in five cities across three countries. The survey defined people who engage in activities that would benefit society and our future as ’changemakers’, and analyzed their relationship with social change.

Main results of the survey

1. Awareness of social issues varies between cities

Social issues that the respondents feel require basic improvement varied between the surveyed cities. Looking at the rankings for each city, “war/conflicts” was at the top in Tokyo/Osaka (52.7%), followed by “work style” (42.2%), “poverty” (42.0%), “economic disparity” (41.8%), and “medical system” (40.1%). The results indicate that in Tokyo/Osaka, respondents show high interest in issues related to their daily lives and the social system.

The top five responses in Paris were “poverty” (51.9%), “air pollution” (50.4%), “war/conflicts” (48.7%), “water shortage/pollution” (48.5%), and “climate change measures” (44.9%), showing high interest in environmental and social issues.

In Beijing/Shanghai, where the response rate was generally lower compared to the other cities, the majority of responses concerned environmental protection. The top five responses were: “air pollution” (36.4%), “water shortage/pollution” (34.6%), “preservation of ecosystem” (32.8%), “climate change measures” (31.2%), and “forest conservation” (31.1%).

Comparing the responses of Generation Z (age 18 – 25) with the average of all generations, though the percentage of Generation Z responses were higher than the overall average for some of the categories, there wasn’t a significant difference in the rankings. Meanwhile, in Tokyo/Osaka the rankings of Generation Z and the overall average were quite different. The top five responses for Generation Z were “work style” (47.4%), “war/conflicts” (42.8%), “childcare support” (41.6%), “poverty” (40.3%), and “economic disparity” (39.0%), reflecting that most issues are life stage related.

2. In Paris, Beijing, and Shanghai, there was a higher rate of engaging in activities for society and for the future, and the rate was also higher among Generation Z than other generations in all five cities

The rate of engaging in activities that would benefit society and the world was surveyed, and the rate of those who responded that they ”take the lead in taking action and encourage others to join in” or they ”regularly participate or engage in activities, and communicate information” (referred to as “activity rate”) was 19.0% in Tokyo/Osaka, 66.1% in Paris, and 76.6% in Beijing/Shanghai, resulting in a considerable difference among the cities surveyed. The activity rate of Generation Z was higher than the overall rate in all five cities.

3. Image of ‘changemakers’ generally positive in the five cities surveyed

The respondents were asked how they feel when they hear, “people who engage in activities to change society and the world” (‘changemakers’), and in all five cities surveyed, the impression was generally positive. In Paris, the majority of respondents felt that ”anybody can become one”, indicating that ‘changemakers’ are not special and there is high expectation towards the power of each and every individual. The results in Beijing/Shanghai indicate a high rate of interest, respect, and sympathy towards ‘changemakers’. Meanwhile, in Tokyo/Osaka, more than half (54.4%) of the respondents answered that they ”do not want to be involved”. However, the younger the age, the response of ”wanting to become involved” increased. Especially among Generation Z (age 18 – 25), 58.4% responded that they ”want to become involved”, indicating that the younger generation are more open to interacting with ‘changemakers’.

4. Factors that promote social change

Asked who has more power to effect change, individual citizens or a select group of people such as ”big corporations or major investors”, ”elites”, and ”socially influential people”, the results in Paris and Beijing/Shanghai for the three cases presented were equally split among the two. In Tokyo/Osaka, more than half of the respondents had high expectations towards the power of each individual to bring about change. In Tokyo/Osaka, the image of ‘changemakers’ was the collective power of individuals changing society rather than a handful of chosen people.

5. Over half of respondents in Tokyo and Osaka experienced improved subjective happiness from engaging in activities that contribute to society and the future

In Tokyo/Osaka, less people engaged in activities, and their image of ‘changemakers’ was comparatively distant than in other surveyed cities. How do actual experiences of engaging in activities effect change in people’s minds? We analyzed the relationship between activities and the feeling of happiness among respondents in Tokyo/Osaka.

Regarding activities that may change society and the future, of the respondents who answered that they ”lead in taking action and encourage others to join in”, ”regularly participate or engage in activities, and communicate information”, or ”don’t engage in any of the activities now but have experience in the past”, 55.9% said they ”felt happier” by taking action. Of the respondents who answered that they ”never engaged in any of the activities, but want to get involved in some way in the future” or ”never engaged in any of the activities, and do not plan nor intend to in the future”, 31.9% thought that they would feel happier if they took action. The percentage of people who subjectively felt happy after actually engaging in activities were higher than the rate of those who, before taking any action, expected that they would feel happier. The results show that taking part in activities that may change society and the future could lead to feeling happier in life.

In Summary

In every city surveyed, not only were there differences in what are considered social issues and the percentage of people who are aware of such issues, but the rate of engaging in activities for society and the future also varied. In Tokyo/Osaka, people’s awareness of social issues was not significantly low, but the rate of engaging in activities that may change society and the future was lower than the other cities surveyed. People in Beijing/Shanghai do not have as much awareness of issues compared to those living in Tokyo, Osaka, or Paris, but the percentage of those who engage in activities was even higher than Paris. The image of ‘changemakers’, who engage in activities to effect change for society and the future, were generally positive in all cities surveyed. However, the image differed between cities depending on whether they thought ‘changemakers’ were ”special” or ”anybody can become one”.

The results in Tokyo/Osaka also indicated that subjective happiness could increase after engaging in activities. Quite a few people in Tokyo/Osaka are aware of social issues, so the challenge is how to encourage people with awareness to take action. In that regard, there may be something to learn from Beijing/Shanghai. Furthermore, issues related to society and daily lives ranked high in Tokyo/Osaka. Tokyo/Osaka may have a lot to learn from Paris in order to increase people’s interest in global issues such as climate change.

Please read the document below for more details about the report.
Changemaker Survey (5 cities in 3 countries) Report (PDF)

Outline of the Survey