Individualiseringens inverkan på gymnasieelevers demokratiska kompetens

Sammanfattning: Party-political involvement of young citizens is decreasing. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (2002) believes that democracy is a balance between individual freedom and collective safety. But today, collective safety is being abandoned as a defensible value. At the same time, the school has a democratic mission that rests on both of these opposing moral traditions; individualism and collectivism. Have the collective values been undermined in favor of increased individual freedom even within the school system? The purpose is to investigate the link between individualization and democratic competence of secondary school students. The theoretical approach is based mainly on Bauman's theory of the individualized society. Central concepts are individualism, collectivism and democratic competence. The method is a quantitative survey conducted at two secondary schools in southern Sweden of 168 high school students who study a program with a social science profile. The result indicates a connection between individualization and system confidence, as well as some variations based on gender, grade, domestic or foreign background, parents education level and political activity.