Demokratin blir till - Ungdomars demokratiföreställningar och skolans roll

Sammanfattning: This study is about youths, democracy and school. It seeks to describe and problemize the school's role in the democratic society. Firstly, using Social Representations Theory, 44 upper secondary shool pupils? representations, or conceptions, of democracy are described and discussed. These representations are then analyzed in relation to the school's role in the democratic society, as it is described by different researchers. The results show that many of the youths have a rather simplistic and abstract view of democracy, describing it only in terms of general principles and the main features of the representative democracy, such as voting in national elections. Only a few relate democracy to themselves or their own everyday environment. The youths? reluctance to take a personal stance and to concretize different assertions are not astonishing ? but nonetheless noteworthy, considering the school's mission of fostering democratic citizens. The qualitative approach of the study enabled young people to express themselves, and thus provided access not only to their attitudes and opinions, but also to their way of thinking and reasoning. Key words: youths, democracy, school, conceptions, social representations