Representaciones Sociales de los Adolescentes Catalanes sobre la Participación Política en Democracia

Abstract

"This paper is an analysis of the Social Representations that the stu dents have about the conceptualization of the mechanisms of political participation in democracy. The study begins with the analysis of the official legislation and develop into the Social Representations of teenagers, based on surveys of 1709 students fro m the last compulsory education in Catalonia and the interviews to 18 students. Analyzing the data from a mixed methodology, we approach the information and attitudes that adolescents have about the object of study, as well as the internal organization of such representations. The results allow us to reflect on the discourses and the critical capacity of students who have completed their obligatory studies according to the legislation that theoretically has been designed to form critical citizens. We conclu de that the Education for Democratic Citizenship, developed during the Organic Law on Education, has been achieved by a good part of the pupils. In other words, the students have traditional ideas and passive attitudes about political participation, theref ore they are not represented to them the forms of active participation or alternatives, ideas that helps to perpetuate the status quo."