Abstract
How do young people understand solidarity, participation, and democratic decision-making, and what experiences shape their capacity to reason about democracy in everyday life? While civic education is commonly associated with knowledge of institutions and formal political processes, democratic learning also develops through lived experiences of cooperation, inclusion, voice, trust, and collective action. This paper examines these dimensions of civic learning among high school students, focusing on the relationship between solidarity, deliberative orientations, and democratic reasoning.
The study draws on research conducted in 15 upper-secondary school classes in Greece within the framework of the European Solidarity for All (Sol4All) project. It combines quantitative survey data with participatory exercises designed to elicit students’ perceptions and experiences of democratic participation, solidarity, cooperation, inclusion, and institutional responsiveness. The quantitative component is analysed through a multivariate framework in order to examine how different dimensions of civic attitudes and experiences are associated with students’ democratic reasoning. The participatory component provides complementary evidence on how students themselves interpret situations in which participation succeeds or fails.
The findings reveal a conception of democracy that extends beyond formal political institutions. Students associate meaningful participation with situations in which their voice has a tangible impact on collective decisions, while solidarity is closely connected to cooperation, collective defence of common interests, teamwork, and joint responses to shared problems. Conversely, experiences perceived as democratically deficient are associated with predetermined decisions disguised as participation, exclusion of those considered different or less socially integrated, lack of trust, free-riding perceptions, intimidation, and marginalisation. These patterns indicate that students distinguish substantively between procedural opportunities to participate and forms of participation in which voice, inclusion, reciprocity, and responsiveness are actually present.
Students’ reflections on the future further demonstrate the interdependence of solidarity and democratic governance. A future without dialogue is associated with social isolation, weakened solidarity, the concentration of control among closed groups, and the deterioration of essential public services, with vulnerable populations perceived as particularly exposed. By contrast, their vision of a desirable future emphasises access to basic goods, interpersonal and digitally supported forms of interaction, transparency, information, and institutional and educational reforms capable of cultivating a stronger culture of participation.
The paper argues that solidarity should be understood not merely as a prosocial attitude but as a component of democratic competence. Democratic reasoning among young people appears to emerge through the interaction of voice, inclusion, trust, cooperation, and perceptions of institutional responsiveness. The findings therefore support an understanding of civic learning as an experiential and relational process: young citizens learn democracy not only by acquiring political knowledge, but by experiencing whether participation is meaningful, whether others are included, and whether collective action can produce visible outcomes. The study contributes to research on civic education and youth participation by linking solidarity and deliberative experience to the formation of democratic reasoning during adolescence.