Education for Citizenship and Democratic Thinking in Crisis Times.

One could say that the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are the latest and most explicit examples of social, political and economic disruption of society, revealing the underlying tensions liberal democracies in Europe are facing. These tensions are experienced in particular by young adults embarking upon new and crucial phases in their life trajectory. When developing and articulating their goals and ambitions, and seeking their place in society as young adult citizens, young adults are increasingly confronted with a multitude of (sometimes competing) narratives and practices on what democracy is and what citizenship entails. Moreover, in response to crises, citizenship can become a strategy to exclude as well as include others in society. Major events accentuate on the one hand the enduring inequalities and exclusion processes related to e.g. gender, ethnicity, class and political preferences in every society, while on the other hand often also reveal the resilience and strength of individuals and communities in their commitment to democracy and citizenship. It is this complexity and situatedness of democratic thinking and active citizenship that our project aims to address. The period of emerging adulthood (18- to 24-year-olds) defines the years young adults often receive a lot of new duties and need to make sense and sometimes choose between different opportunities and life paths. In this project we aim to collect new research data in order to strengthen our future EU application. Building on the groundwork of the EDICT proposal we aim to explore young adults' perceptions, experiences and behaviors with respect to issues of citizenship, democratic thinking, identity and diversity. We study how research can grasp the underlying processes influencing young adults and to this end we aim to develop a survey tool to be implemented in different (educational) settings, and which will lead to new research insights.

Keywords:CITIZENSHIP, DEMOCRACY, YOUNG ADULTS, EDUCATION

Disciplines:Civic learning and community development