WHERE AND FROM WHOM CAN DEMOCRACY BE LEARNED? THE RESULTS OF MIXED-METHOD RESEARCH IN FIVE DIFFERENT TERRITORIAL CONTEXTS

The paper presents the principal results of a research regarding the forms and ways of participation in the public sphere of adolescents, and on the socialization processes to participation activated in the family, at school, among peers, and in other contexts (e.g., on the Internet). Several scholars argue that democracy is learned from childhood. Both instrumental literacy and, even more so, cultural literacy (such as the development of cognitive and non-cognitive, civic, social, and affective-relational skills related to personal autonomy and the development of critical thinking) are influenced by different contexts and actors. Active participation in community life might be considered, on the one hand, as the result of socializing processes, and on the other hand as an own educational value. The presented results are based on a mixed-methods study, which consists of community profiles, focus groups, and a survey carried out with adolescents (14-17 years old), in five Italian towns (Pordenone, Ancona, L’Aquila, Rome, Trebisacce), where it is undertaken the project RIPARTIRE (Regenerating participation to innovate the educational network), funded by Impresa Sociale Con i Bambini and led by ActionAid Italia. The entire research is developed on four areas: the meanings, forms, and practices of the civic participation of adolescents; the perception of the effectiveness of their participation; the participation models learned in the family, at school, and in other socializing contexts; the (physical and virtual) spaces in which adolescents take part in the society