Skolans betydelse för vårt sociala kapital

ABSTRACT Since Robert D. Putnam first wrote about the causes behind the regional differences in economic and political development in Italy, the theory of social capital has truly flourished in the fields of social science. This days you constantly hear politicians and scholars stressing the important role of the quality of the social fabric to a society’s wellbeing. There all looking at ways to construct policies and institutions that help the spread of social capital. Yet, the question of what makes and breaks social capital remains in large part unanswered. Putnam became famous by arguing that engagement in civil clubs and unions has a causal tie to social capital. Many scholars has criticized that thesis and instead stressed the role of universal public institutions, economic equality and many other theories. This study focuses on the potential role of deliberative democracy, or more accurately put, deliberative didactics, for the strengthening of pupils social capital. Deliberative democracy is a form of governing that focuses on collective agreement through discussions on equal terms. According to the theory, deliberative discussions forces people to understand and respect each other’s differences, and teaches them to cooperate. This will, they argue, strengthen both the individual and the community’s social capital. This study focuses on what schools can do to stimulate a deliberative atmosphere and how a deliberative atmosphere correlates with the pupils’ social capital. I’ve done this by handing out question sheets to Swedish High school kids. I’ve then used SPSS to do a regression- and factor analysis of their answers. The result shows a correlation at R=0,444 between a student’s appreciation of the deliberative atmosphere at their school and their social capital. Other interesting results was the strong affect that being comfortable in speaking to the class had to kids social capital, to what extent teachers graded the group rather than each kid separately, how the kids trusted each other as well as people in general, and so on