What the Future May Bring

The educational system is assumed to facilitate our full participation in society by laying the foundation for participatory rights and possibilities and at the same time strengthening civil society by fostering its individuals into democratic citizens. The question is what the future may bring if continuous economic cutbacks in the educational system lead to diminishing resources for the teaching of values of liberal democracy and multiculturalism. I try to answer this question by focusing on how xenophobia among Swedish teenage school adolescents is related to other values in the democratic system. The empirical data are drawn from a national sample comprising more than 6000 adolescents between 14 and 15 years of age. I conclude that willingness to participate actively in the democratic process through both political participation and other legal action relates negatively to xenophobia, whereas willingness to undertake acts of civil disobedience and mistrust in the political institutions relate positively to xenophobia. These findings raise the question of what the educational system should focus on in trying to combat racism and xenophobia and of what will happen in the future in times of diminishing resources.