College students and democracy: what does scientific production provide?

Abstract

Despite important advances, Brazilian democracy is once again surrounded by dilemmas and impasses. The ongoing attacks on the democratic system show that part of society and political leaders do not legitimize and defend the legal and institutional framework of the Democratic Rule of Law. Recent political crises motivated the carrying out of a study on the role of educational institutions in the formation of democratic culture. As part of a broader study on the perception of young university students about the Brazilian democratic system, this article presents the results of research on scientific productions on the topic published in seven bibliometric indexes (Scientific Electronic Libray Online (SciELO), Portal Periódico CAPES, Catálogo de Teses e Dissertações CAPES, Biblioteca Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD), Scopus, Web of Science and Diretory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ). The process of qualitative data treatment and analysis was carried out using the content analysis technique. The study showed, among other results, that scientific production (i) grew significantly from 2015 onwards, a context marked by deep political instability in the country; (ii) it is concentrated in some areas of knowledge, such as Psychology and Social Sciences; (iii) prioritizes themes such as human rights and social movements and, (iv) reflects different conceptions and theoretical-methodological approaches. The research indicates that there is a long way to go for the strengthening of democracy in various countries, and in Brazil in particular.