Adolescents’ experiences with democracy and collective decision-making in everyday life

Formal schooling, family and associational life are expected to enable adolescents to develop democratic attitudes. However, much remains unknown about how young people perceive these settings for developing such attitudes, and whether this perception differs for students in different educational tracks. This interview study of Dutch adolescents aims to gain insights into adolescents’ perspectives towards experiences of democratic decision-making. The results show that the opportunities for young people to be involved in collective decision-making and to gain democratic experiences are rather limited in schools and in associational life. This holds for students from both higher and lower educational tracks.