Läroböckers framställning av demokratibegreppet : En kvalitativ jämförande studie om läroböcker och styrdokumentens framställning av demokratibegreppet ur en socialkonstruktivistisk och prociduriell kunskapssyn

The purpose of this study is to contribute to an increased understanding of the concept of democracy as well as its use in textbooks and the guideline of education in school. The questions addresses from which view of knowledge the concept of democracy is presented in textbooks and compares it with the definition of the guidelines of education. The comparison is made to see to what extent textbooks' descriptions correspond to the definition of the guideline of education. By studying textbooks as well as the subject plans in social science, through a qualitative method the purpose of this study is to identify from which view of knowledge the concept of democracy is produced. The study is based on two views of knowledge, Vygotsky's social constructivist and Lundström's procedural perspectives. Vygotsky's social constructivist perspective emphasizes that concepts and their meanings are socially constructed through human interaction, and thus their meaning is constantly changing. Instead, Lundström's procedural perspective means that the concept of democracy must be presented from an objective point of view in textbooks. According to Lundström, all definitions of the concept of democracy other than popular rule pose a risk that the concept has lost substance and there with its legitimacy. Based on this categorization, it is illustrated from which knowledge view the school administration and textbooks present the concept of democracy. The result shows that some textbooks follow the guide lining documents and others do not, so it is impossible to find a generalizable result.