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Values of University Students Portugal/Brazil: socio-political dimension

ABSTRACT:

This study assesses the socio-political values of colleges students (n = 605) Portugal/Brazil, employing a questionnaire on socio-political dimension Values. The results revealed significate differences about fundamental values. We find indifference/scepticism in Portuguese and Brazilian students practice, essentially with regard to the causes of social inequalities. In Brazil are connect from bad luck, laziness and inactivity and in Portugal a short instruction distinguish. This research empowers the implementation of programmes of education for citizenship in academic context.

Keywords:
Youth; Political Values; Social Injustice; Social Inequalities; Importance to Keywords

RESUMO:

Este estudo analisa os valores sociopolíticos dos universitários (n=605) Portugal/Brasil, mediante um Questionário sobre Valores na dimensão sociopolítica. Os resultados revelaram diferenças quanto a valores fundamentais. Constatamos indiferença/descrença política nos estudantes portugueses e brasileiros, essencialmente no respeitante às causas das desigualdades sociais. No Brasil são decorrentes da pouca sorte, preguiça e inatividade laboral e em Portugal particularizam a pouca instrução. Esta pesquisa viabiliza a implementação de programas de educação para a cidadania em contexto académico.

Palavras-chave:
Juventude; Valores Políticos; Injustiça Social; Desigualdades Sociais; Importância de palavras-chave

Introduction

Socio-political events worldwide are based on a new reality where each person acquires relevance according to their knowledge, influences and connections. The current social reality demands to find alternatives to situations of multiple inequalities and, in particular youth lacks utopias that modify the experiences of their daily lives. Accordingly, Lott (2013)LOTT, Joe. Predictors of Civic Values: understanding student-level and institutional-level effects. Journal of College Student Development, Baltimore, v. 54, n. 1, p. 1-16, 2013. argues that the incessant transformations in the political scenarios and socioeconomic softens require persevering reflections in the university environment in order to question old convictions and guide entrepreneurial and creative postures where the freedom of thought of each in order to question old convictions and guide entrepreneurial and creative postures where the freedom of thought of each person is in force. It is up to the university community to ask for a more enlightened integration of the essential role it has in society, combating the immeasurable threats to the historical social achievements obtained, such as social justice, solidarity, freedom with responsibility and democracy. These socio-political values are basic in university students and guide life in society in the course of their city and professional qualification, reinforcing school practices that promote full citizenship.

The University´s primary mission es an integral, inclusive, emancipatory and transformative education, generating in student the feeling of belonging to a community. It exercises a convergence between various ideological thoughts, conceptions and gradations that should be shared autonomously and harmoniously in the collegiate environment, supported by a rational vanguard that supplants passions or beliefs. The act of educating has only felt guided by a context of well-clarified values. Therefore, they increase the duties of knowledge production, analysis of veracity and construction of transformative and sustainable ecological strategies. In situations of tension we are obliged to reflect on our practices as teachers, students, technicians and citizens, because they require new attitudes of confrontation. The importance of the University’s multiple roles increases and requires laborious performance in the classroom, critical, participatory, creative and socially relevant that integrates knowledge and decision-making. In this line of thought, several authors (Ramos; Barlem; Lunardi; Barlem; Silveira; Bordignon, 2015RAMOS, Aline Marcelino; BARLEM, Jamila Geri Tomaschewski; LUNARDI Valéria Lerch; BARLEM, Edison Luiz Devos; SILVEIRA Rosemary Silva da; BORDIGNON, Simoní Saraiva. Satisfação com a Experiência Acadêmica entre Estudantes de Graduação em Enfermagem. Texto Contexto Enfermagem, Florianópolis, v. 24, n. 1, p. 187-195, 2015.; Paes de Paula, 2012PAES DE PAULA, Ana Paula. Estilhaços do Real: o ensino da administração em uma perspectiva benjaminiana. Curitiba: Juruá, 2012.; Castro, 2008CASTRO, Lúcia Rabello de. Participação Política e Juventude: do mal-estar à responsabilização frente ao destino comum. Revista de Sociologia e Política, Curitiba, v. 16, n. 30, p. 253-268, 2008.; Beaumont; Colby; Ehrlich; Torney-Purta, 2006BEAUMONT, Elizabeth; COLBY, Anne; EHRLICH, Thomas; TORNEY-PURTA, Judith. Promoting political competence and engagement in college students: an empirical study. Journal of Political Science Education, Philadelphia, v. 2, n. 3, p. 249-270, 2006.) advocate training that develops in students a critical reflection on the performance of managers in organizations and communities, in order to analyze the potential of their professional practice for social transformation.

The transformation of daily experiences, resulting from a technology in permanent modernization, installed in the dwellings and in private life requires universities to be places of openness to the universal, where the autonomy of the university can be explained within an intersubjective structure and not obtained individually.

In certain cases conflicts arise due to interests, views, political and ideological convictions. This conflict is inherent in nature itself human being that needs to be worked parsimoniously, with a view to obtaining proposals appropriate to people and the collective, in the transmission of generation-to-generation values where citizenship is an institutional value that is established on the basis of justice and that leads soundness in the sharing of functions, rights and duties. In this sense, Park, Twenge and Greenfield (2017)PARK, Heejung; TWENGE, Jean; GREENFIELD, Patricia. American Undergraduate Students’ Value Development during the Great Recession. International Journal of Psychology, Paris, v. 52, n. 1, p. 28-39, 2017. point out that the values that determine attitudes and patterns of behavior that are observed daily provide meaning and support people’s choices. Moreover, in recent generations the development of values has been influenced by unique conjunctures of conviviality, such a social network. These varied social identities are shaped from youth to adulthood from (Félonneau; Lannegrand-Willems; Becker; Parant, 2013FÉLONNEAU, Marie-Line; LANNEGRAND-WILLEMS, Lyda; BECKER, Maja; PARANT, Aymeric. The Dynamics of Sociospatial Identity: comparing adolescents and young adults in two French regions. Applied Psychology, London, v. 62, n. 4, p. 619-639, 2013. ) and the integration of citizens depends on the different sociocultural set and regional natures for social identities.

In the current social context, there is a misadjustment of youth to reality and in the face of policy (Bicalho; Barbosa; Meza, 2015BICALHO, Pedro Paulo Gastalho de; BARBOSA, Roberto Brasilino; MEZA, Ana Paula Santos. Juventude no Fogo Cruzado: o governo da vida e as políticas dicotômicas de segurança. In: SCISLESKI, Andrea; GUARESCHI, Neuza (Org.). Juventude, Marginalidade Social e Direitos Humanos: da psicologia às políticas públicas. Porto Alegre: EdPUCRS, 2015. P. 205-220.). Therefore, citizenship education is in the interests of all institutions of socialization, training and expression of public life, it is up to the university to provide the student with access to the knowledge and praxis of active citizenship. Know these that contain real importance for the student’s future professional performance commitment to benefit the society of the learned (Pinheiro; Arantes, 2015PINHEIRO, Vivian Potenza Guimarães; ARANTES, Valéria Amorim. Values and Feelings in Young Brazilians’ Purposes. Paidéia, Riobeirão Preto, v. 25, n. 61, p. 201-209, 2015.). The Universities welcome students from different communities on their campus, both socio-economic and culturally, both at the political and spiritual ideological level (Varela, 2016VARELA, Nolberto Acosta. Los Valores Políticos y la Organización de las Comunidades Estudiantiles. Revista DOXA Digital, Araraquara, v. 6, n. 11, p. 122-149, 2016.; Kahne; Chi; Middaugh, 2006KAHNE, Joseph; CHI, Bernadette; MIDDAUGH, Ellen. Building Social Capital for Civic and Political Engagement: the potential of high school civic courses. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de l’education, Ottawa, v. 29, n. 2, p. 387-409, 2006.). In these collectivities conditions are beneficial for students to develop political processing on democracy, political culture and organization of the academic community. Youth is a phase of discovery and identity formation, being the primary height for the development of civic beliefs and commitments that cooperate for the understanding of citizenship (Harriger, 2016HARRIGER, Katy. Deliberative Dialogue and the Development of Democratic Dispositions. New Directions for Higher Education, San Francisco, v. 166, p. 53-61, 2016. ). Civic involvement and participation in community activities are vital to the future of democratic societies. Values are correlated with each person’s aspirations, determining conduct in civic life, individual attributes and particularities that correspond to these social incomes (Mesquita; Bonfim; Padilha; Silva, 2016MESQUITA, Marcos Ribeiro; BONFIM, Juliano; PADILHA, Erise; SILVA, Ana Cecília. Juventudes e Participação: compreensão de política, valores e práticas sociais. Psicologia & Sociedade, Porto Alegre, v. 28, n.2, p. 288-297, 2016.).

Currently, the citizenship controversy has again been more intense due to the challenge architected by the thorny transformations of society, where the question of individualism and the growing apathy that are dominating social life is evidenced (Jetten; Iyer, 2010JETTEN, Jolanda; IYER, Aarti. Different Meanings of the Social Dominance Orientation Concept: predicting political attitudes over time. The British Journal of Social Psychology, Letchworth, v. 49 n. 2, p. 385-404, 2010.).

Being an integral citizen presupposes benefiting not only from civil and political rights (right to life, freedom, property, equality before the law), but also the social ones that guarantee the participation of people in the collective heritage (right to education, work, fair pay, health). Only with this integrality of rights is effectively guaranteed a participatory democracy (Faria; Sauerbronn, 2008FARIA, Alexandre; SAUERBRONN, Fernanda Filgueiras. A Responsabilidade Social é uma Questão de Estratégia? uma abordagem crítica. Revista de Administração Pública, Rio de Janeiro, v. 42, n. 1, p. 7-34, 2008. ). Civic participation is therefore considered one of the basic clauses for communities to acquire control over their ecological health.

The Higher Education Institutions face weak political participation that has a low voting rates for young people in electing collegiate bodies of governance associations in the scant organisation of student communities and at a low political culture In this context, students face a crossroads, politics on the one hand and, on the other hand, their denial, apolitical or indifference (Varela, 2016VARELA, Nolberto Acosta. Los Valores Políticos y la Organización de las Comunidades Estudiantiles. Revista DOXA Digital, Araraquara, v. 6, n. 11, p. 122-149, 2016.).

Low youth civic participation, particularly in university students, is a situation that captivates not only the actors involved in promoting greater voter turnout, but is a cause for concern from researchers in the areas of social sciences (Reichert; Print, 2018REICHERT, Frank; PRINT, Murray. Civic Participation of High School Students: the effect of civic learning in school. Educational Review, Oxford, v. 70, n. 3, p. 318-341, 2018.). In view of this worrying removal of students, it is emphasized the need to know the situation of institutions and autonomy in student organizations, especially their importance in exercising rights and duties in order to increase the levels of university political participation without ideological impositions. School communities are political actors who have always been struggling to preserve their autonomy, objective not acquired for several reasons, such as: the curricular plan, the political/organizational model conducted by the leaders of institutional leadership. It is clear that the political participation of university students has been considered limited and fragmented in the formation of values. However, it exists and manifests itself in different ways, prevailing either negatively, turning around the demands of the market and the pragmatic interests of educational institutions, either positive about specific issues, through awareness-raising and mobilization strategies, some using new technologies and social network present in the processes of transformation of society, as Brenner (2011)BRENNER, Ana Karina. Militância de Jovens em Partidos Políticos: um estudo de caso com universitários. 2011. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) - Faculdade de Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2011. points out. The author states that young people inserted in the new models of political militancy that are born from emerging social movements such as environmentalists, antiglobalization and others have a commitment to less institutionalized forms of participation.

The role of third-level education is decisive for the development of any country (Varela, 2016VARELA, Nolberto Acosta. Los Valores Políticos y la Organización de las Comunidades Estudiantiles. Revista DOXA Digital, Araraquara, v. 6, n. 11, p. 122-149, 2016.). Historically, education is the overwhelming force of a society, maintaining their levels of development and generational transmission modes, being decisive to remain, reproduce and transform.

To interpret a particular country or social group, one of the primary indicators of development to be analyzed is Education. It is taken into account a training based on universal principles and actions that promote the development of democracy, the effectiveness of citizenship and student social participation. On the other hand, its realization depends on a pedagogy that enshrines in the new generations the right to a legacy of historical achievements to which we value, that is, equal opportunities, both in their practices, as well as accessibility to the cultural heritage of the community: knowledge, languages, artistic expressions, social and moral practices.

We want an operational and transformative educational institution aimed at social inclusion that reduces school failure and discrimination against the most disadvantaged. In short, a space where democratic coexistence can be implemented contributing to the construction of democratic values such as: civic participation, tolerance, responsibility, equality, equity, transparency, freedom and respect for human rights.

Method

Resulting from the literature consulted, the present study appears in the university students of Madeira and Fortaleza, training sites for young people for global citizenship (as recommended by UNESCO (2014), comparing two geographical and cultural contexts in order to analyze the dimension of the sociopolitical values of university students, through a cross-sectional and inferential research. The sample of university students is significant (n=605) 225 from the University of Madeira (UMa), a Portuguese public institution located in Funchal, the island of Madeira and 380 from the University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR), a private university in northern and northwest Brazil. Data were collected at the University Campus, before or after classes, randomly selected by the different courses. As inclusion criteria young people from undergraduate/bachelor’s courses, aged between 18 and 24 years, excluding those not included in the established age group, those who attend postgraduate courses and those who do not properly complete the questionnaire. In addition to sociodemographic characterization issues, the Structured Questionnaire on the Values was used (Lages (1987)LAGES, Mário. Valores e Critérios Morais. Lisboa: Patriarcado de Lisboa, 1987., adapted from the European Values Survey), consisting of 30 compound issues grouped by 6 dimensions of values under study and which are: Individual well-being; Interpersonal Relationships; Participation and Social Intervention; Ethics and Meaning of Life; Family and Sociopolitical Values. Data collection took place in 2017 after approval by the ethics committee. The participants were elucidated from the confidentiality and anonymity of the results, objectives of the study and the consequent dissemination, giving your informed consent at the time of completing the questionnaires. They were also informed that they could give up at any time during participation, without any damage. Descriptive statistics were used by calculating frequencies, means, fashion, standard deviation and minimum and maximum values and inferential statistics (T de Student and Chi-square, given the nature of the variables).

The question that guided this research was: What SOCIOPOLITICAL VALUES include the underdimensions of opinion on fundamental values, orientations in view of patterns of values, feeling of injustice and reasons for their existence, explanations of social inequalities and importance attributed to certain keywords, defended by young university students at the University of Madeira and the University of Fortaleza?

Results

The average distribution by ages of UMa and UNIFOR students is 21 years, most are female (≥ 65%) and single (≥ 96%). With regard to ethnic group, the majority is white (96%) and brown (55%), respectively in the UMa and UNIFOR. The ethnicity variable was considered only for characterization of participants living in distinct geographical contexts.

As for the opinion on fundamental values, almost all students attach a lot of importance to all values, freedom, equality, fraternity and human rights (≥ 88%) were valued in the UMa. At UNIFOR freedom, fraternity and solidarity stand out (≥ 87%). However, analyzing the results of Table 1 we found that there is only no statistically significant difference in opinion on human rights. The university students of Fortaleza are the ones who reveal better opinion about freedom values (p=0.006), equality (p=0.002), fraternity, solidarity and progress (all with p<0.001).

Table 1
Comparison of Opinions Expressed by Students

With regard to guidelines on value patterns, students from both institutions reveal the same trend, agreeing only in part to the following assumptions: increasingly there is more immorality (≥ 50%) and, may each one takes care of himself (≥ 43.2%). On the other hand, they do not agree with the following phrases: the man must earn more than the woman (≥ 87%), suffering only makes sense when we believe in God (≥ 66.3%), life has no meaning (≥ 75%), marriage is an outdated institution (≥ 66%), tooth for tooth, eye for eye (≥ 60%) and no trusting others (≥ 52 %). We found (Table 2) that there are statistically significant differences only in situations related to sentences: each one takes care of himself (p=0.003), no trusting others (p<0.001), the man must earn more than the woman (p=0.027) and suffering only makes sense when we believe in God (p<0.001). In all these assumptions, again, it is the university students of Fortaleza who show greater agreement.

Table 2
Comparison of Agreement with Assumptions

Most college students (with values ≥ 80.4% of the population) declares the feeling of the existence of social injustice in the world and the reasons that give rise to that feeling refer to corruption and the benefits of power (≥ 68%). The proportion of university students in Fortaleza who consider there to be social injustice and that this is due to corruption and benefits of power (p=0.002) and the fact that the government doesn’t look at the people (p=0.016) is significantly higher than the proportion observed among Madeira university students (Table 3).

Table 3
Comparison of the Existence of Social Injustice and Assigned Reasons

The explanations of social inequalities, students understand that they are essentially because employers do not pay fair wages (≥ 51%) and UNIFOR students add mostly (77.9%) that they understand to be, because people do not have education to have good jobs.

With regard to the reasons why there are poor and needy people in the country, the results we present in Table 4, allow us to verify that there are significant differences in the options regarding little luck in life (p=0.003), people are lazy/not working (p<0.001) and have no instruction to allow them to have good jobs. Analyzing the percentage values we can affirm that the proportions of individuals who believe in the first two reasons as an understanding for poverty are higher in Madeira university students, whereas the university students of Fortaleza attribute more to the low education of the people (p<0.001).

Table 4
Comparison of the Reasons for the Existence of Poverty in the Country

With regard to the importance attributed to several keywords, respondents consider it mostly (with values greater than 72%) very important all the following words have been added: health, love, happiness, truth, justice, friendship, goodwill, bondade, welfare, pleasure, and enjoyment. We point out that, only to the word power, mostly students from both institutions attributed little or no importance (≥ 53%) which allows us to infer the disinterest in this term considered a generator of social injustice in the world. On the other hand, most students at the University of Madeira attributed little or no importance to the Gospel (68%) what is not the case in Fortaleza (32%). The results we present in Table 5 confirm the existence of statistically significant differences in all keywords and the comparison of average values reveals that the university students of Fortaleza tend to attribute greater importance to the following words, gospel (p<0.001), power (p=0.012), love (p<0.001), health (p<0.001), wealth (p=0.001), faith (p<0.001), pleasure (p<0.001), happiness (p<0.001), goodwill (p<0.001), enjoyment (p<0.001), justice (p<0.001), prestige (p<0.001), God (p<0.001), welfare (p<0.001), beauty (p=0.002), friendship (p<0.001), truth (p<0.001) and kindness (<0.001).

Table 5
Comparison of The Importance Attributed to certain Keywords

Discussion

Politics without youth participation does not exist or have no meaning, because it would be the same as denying the succession of generations in charge of the country. What seems to contribute most to youth abstaining are factors that condition political development and organizational culture (Costa, 2018COSTA, Marcos da. Sem os jovens, futuro da política é sombrio. Estadão, São Paulo, 06 jun. 2018. Disponível em: <https://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/sem-os-jovens-futuro-da-politica-e-sombrio>. Acesso em: 10 fev. 2019.
https://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fa...
).

As a social avant-garde it is our duty to work to insert young people into the spectrum of politics, so that they become protagonists of contemporaneity. The data in our study greatly facilitate us this educational mission to basic values, since most of the students surveyed attribute much relevance to freedom, equality, fraternity, solidarity and progress.

The university students of Fortaleza are the ones who reveal advantage. Similarly, a survey by the Popular Data Institute (Costa, 2018COSTA, Marcos da. Sem os jovens, futuro da política é sombrio. Estadão, São Paulo, 06 jun. 2018. Disponível em: <https://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/sem-os-jovens-futuro-da-politica-e-sombrio>. Acesso em: 10 fev. 2019.
https://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fa...
), before the recent Brazilian presidential election, shows the profile of a young Brazilian bringing important messages to the political class, in which observance is revealing of youth abstaining - politicians are analog and youth is digital, because most belong to undecided voters who report that governments do not speak their language. However, the majority believes in the very ability to change the world, in voting as an instrument of transformation of the nation and recognize the decisive role of politics in brazilian daily life. In opposition, 60% believe the country would be better off if there were no political parties. The fact is that youth aspires to a strong state, with efficiency in the private sector and free public services, using strict methods to measure the quality of services. The study of Jahromi, Crocetti e Buchanan (2012)JAHROMI, Parissa; CROCETTI, Elisabetta; BUCHANAN, Christy. A Cross-Cultural Examination of Adolescent Civic Engagement: comparing Italian and American volunteerism and political involvement. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, Binghamton, v. 40, p. 22-36, 2012. reinforces that an effort is needed by higher education institutions to engage youth politically through curricular approaches that provide opportunities to actively discuss social problems, developing responsibility civic commitment and students’ skills.

The students of this research, as a whole, agree with the assumptions that there is increasingly immorality and disagree that man should earn more than women, significant differences in the premises: each one takes care of himself, no trusting others and the suffering only makes sense when we believe in God, being the university students of Fortaleza who show greater agreement. In view of these results, we believe that the distrust of students is growing, as well as individualism and the sense of immorality in the collective. From this perspective, Finkler, Caetano e Ramos (2013)FINKLER, Mirelle; CAETANO, João Carlos; RAMOS, Flávia Regina Souza. Ética e Valores na Formação Profissional em Saúde: um estudo de caso. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, São Paulo, v. 18, n. 10, p. 3033-3042, 2013. argue that the values, although updated over time, as cultures and peoples maintain their essence, remain at our disposal. We need to experience them, because they only have meaning when used in our relationships and in everyday life. Some researchers (Ortiz; Hernández; Femenía, 2014ORTIZ, Bárbara Mercedes Rodríguez; HERNÁNDEZ, Arianna Suárez; FEMENÍA, Yurkina Morales. Sistema de Actividades Educativas para Fortalecer el Valor Honestidad en los Estudiantes del Primer año de la Carrera de Bibliotecología en la Enseñanza Técnica y Professional. MediCiego, Ciego de Ávila, v. 20, n. 1, p. 1-7, 2014. ; Caixeta; Sousa, 2013CAIXETA, Juliana Eugênia; SOUSA, Maria do Amparo de. Responsabilidade Social na Educação Superior: contribuições da psicologia escolar. Psicologia Escolar e Educacional, São Paulo, v. 17, n. 1, p. 133-140, 2013.) argue that changes can be noted in the political attitudes of young people when they enter university when exposed to different contextual forces and dynamics that shape their attitudes and beliefs through the process of socialization. On the other hand, Bydlowski, Lefèvre e Pereira (2011)BYDLOWSKI, Cynthia Rachid; LEFÈVRE, Ana Maria Cavalcanti; PEREIRA, Isabel Maria Teixeira Bicudo. Promoção da Saúde e a Formação Cidadã: a perceção do professor sobre cidadania. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, São Paulo, v. 16, n. 3, p. 1771-1780, 2011. point out that the Brazilian population has particular characteristics that still reflect the colonial period. A condition of submission is inbetween with the democratic processes that are taking place, attitude, which characterizes indifferent and depoliticized citizens. This makes it difficult to achieve better living and health conditions, in which everyone has the same opportunity for food, education, health, finally, for a dignified survival.

Most university students declare the existence of social injustice in the world, particularly arising from corruption and the benefits of power and the fact that rulers do not look at the people, being more manifest in Brazilian students. Obvious reasons for highlighting the study of Chan, Ou e Reynolds (2014)CHAN, Wing Yi; OU, Suh-Ruu; REYNOLDS, Arthur. Adolescent Civic Engagement and Adult Outcomes: an examination among urban racial minorities. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, New York, v. 43, n. 11, p. 1829-1843, 2014. which suggests as recent trends in several globalized democratic countries the increasing detachment of young people from the surrounding society, especially policy.

The most mentioned reasons for the existence of social inequalities in Madeira university students are the little luck in life and people are lazy/not working. Fortaleza students claim that asymmetries are due to the fact that people do not have instruction that allows them to have good jobs. A survey of 2,400 college students from North Carolina, USA, carried out by a working group on civic learning and bureaucratic involvement found that only one third of respondents had their civic awareness developed in college (Harriger, 2014), therefore we highlight the striking role of higher education institutions in preparing pupils for civic life. This civic participation (Padrón, 2014PADRÓN, Gretel Báez. Estrategia Participativa para Estudiantes de la Carrera de Estudios Socioculturales. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, San Pedro, v. 143, p. 75-87, 2014.) involves a better understanding of the reality and contribution in the common education of citizens, being a means of achieving the equitable distribution of benefits and a way to participate in decision-making processes.

The existence of a lot of social injustice, corruption and abuse of power, expressed in the results of this study, denotes the disbelief installed in Brazilian and Portuguese students, in equity, in justice and, mainly, in the power agencies.

Through the data obtained we found that students claim work or educational explanations to justify social inequalities in which they have their share of responsibility since tolerance, health, wealth, truth, kindness, justice, love and solidarity were values to which they attributed great importance and lack of active participation of the collectivity do not materialize in daily practice. Rocha e Siqueira (2009)ROCHA, Glória Walkyria de Fátima; SIQUEIRA Vera Helena Ferraz de. Práticas Sociais de Estudantes de Medicina na Universidade Pública: celebrações, eventos e cidadania. Revista Trabalho, Educação e Saúde, Rio de Janeiro, v. 7, n. 1, p. 149-165, 2009. explain that the university has been considered a privileged space for the construction of citizenship, aiming at the development of autonomous subjects who contribute to the questioning and development of society. In turn, UNESCO (2014)ORGANIZAÇÃO DAS NAÇÕES UNIDAS PARA A EDUCAÇÃO, A CIÊNCIA E A CULTURA (UNESCO). Global Citizenship Education: preparing learners for the challenges of the 21 st century. Paris: UNESCO, 2014. in its publication Education for Global Citizenship: preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century reinforces the crucial importance of education. Hence, the fundamental importance of facing universities as democratic public spheres, dedicated to ways to strengthen the Individual Being and the Social, whereas among multiple requirements, society also expects them to contribute to the promotion of peace, well-being, prosperity and sustainability in the global world. The presence of the mercantilization process that marks current society in the university institution, with important effects on the subjectivity of the student and on the social roles they assume, points to an absence of utopias of young people, an emptying of life projects and public spaces for the construction of citizenship (Santinello; Cristini; Vieno; Scacchi, 2012SANTINELLO, Massimo; CRISTINI, Francesca; VIENO, Alessio; SCACCHI, Luca. “Volunteering by Chance” to Promote Civic Responsibility and Civic Engagement: does it work? Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, Binghamton, v. 40, n. 1, p. 64-79, 2012.; Bolan; Motta, 2007BOLAN, Valmor; MOTTA, Márcia Vieira da. Responsabilidade Social no Ensino Superior. Revista de Educação, Londrina, v. 10, n. 10, p. 204-210, 2007.).

We believe that the fact that students mostly attach little or no importance to power is indicative of the indiscipline existing in companies and institutions, so few are people who want to take increased responsibilities (Jahromi; Crocetti; Buchanan, 2012JAHROMI, Parissa; CROCETTI, Elisabetta; BUCHANAN, Christy. A Cross-Cultural Examination of Adolescent Civic Engagement: comparing Italian and American volunteerism and political involvement. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, Binghamton, v. 40, p. 22-36, 2012. ).

It should be noted that most students in Madeira have attached little or no importance to the Gospel, revealing data of a youth from a secular state such as the Portuguese state which reveals a certain immaterial disregard arising from a crisis at all levels lasting in the European Union (unemployment, terrorism, xenophobia, paedophilia, corruption, demographic ageing). In this sense, Carvalho (2010)CARVALHO, Cristina Sá. A Experiência Religiosa dos Adolescentes. THEOLOGICA, Braga, v. 45, n. 2, 411-433, 2010. stresses that the signs of the crisis are not difficult to recognise, stressing the reduction of religious practice, reduction of the request for sacraments, lower participation in school religious education, increased crisis of priestly and religious vocations, aged communities and the distancing of people from the traditions of Christianity, among other factors.

Conclusion

The implementation of this research provided relevant information on the new realities of student sociopolitical values, allowed comparisons in several geographical and cultural contexts, analyze the values that last and those that become over time. These interesting results in determining the values that should be transmitted to new generations in order to enable interventions in teaching/learning aiming at the creation of more humanistic generations that they know how to live in harmony with other ideologies, cultures and value systems, where there is a sharing for cultural enrichment.

The results on the values inherent to the sociopolitical dimension of university students from different geographical contexts (Brazil/Portugal) can contribute to reflections on the citizen education of these students during the undergraduate course, in the context of organizational studies. Thus, from the perceptions presented in this work it is crucial to promote organizational strategies to raise awareness to value student participation in participatory public places. The education/training of qualified adults should include components that authenticate the exercise of ethical and responsible professional practices, because ethics in professional practice is a form of expression of democratic citizenship and also a form of primary prevention of violence.

This study did not explore the possibility of differences between university students due to ethnicity. Future investigations should be implemented in order to verify the possibility that cultural capital can overcome ethnic disadvantages (Ribeiro; Neves; Menezes, 2016RIBEIRO, Norberto; NEVES, Tiago; MENEZES, Isabel. Participação Cívica e Política de Jovens Imigrantes e Portugueses. Análise Social, Lisboa, v. 221, n. 4, p. 822-849, 2016. ) and the different assumptions of values.

Studies like this are important in the current scenario of discussions on the subject of youth and political participation given its potential to reflect on reflections that go beyond academic discussions, broadening and sharing a reflection on the plurality of ways of being young and of political participation in the contemporary. As revealed in the literature, the way young people feel about politics is actually similar to what theory describes. Greater differences in political participation are explained by the socio-economic level, educational achievement and other more innovative forms of participation, which include social networks, petitions and demonstration.

The study points to the implementation of formative strategies aimed at the sociopolitical evolution of teachers, their eclecticism and ethical/deontological responsibility in promoting integral and autonomous development, in ideological terms of university students, guiding conceptions, reflections and experiences congruent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

With multiculturalism, technology, and the development of their own cultures, the standard values of young people have become a lot, giving rise to new paradigms once unthinkable. This article is intended to be a valid contribution not only in the materialization of ethical, sociopolitical precepts, but also in the strengthening of a difficult conceptual field, revealing itself as a tool for the construction of a fairer world.

Young people express indifference in participating in socio-political activities because they feel no attraction. Its detachment is influenced by life-cycle stage effects and disbelief in political actors due corruption and abuse of power, analog / digital desynchronized posture and of oral dialectic / antagonistic praxis.

The scope of civic education should be broadened surpassing the simple transfer of knowledge and play a key role in the legacy of the relevance of political participation and responsible citizenship. Future research should contemplate new forms of political participation different from traditional which may imply a new view of the community and, moreover, the possibility of comparing the perspective of young people with adult and senior representations of political values. Today the youth must be aware as the socio-political environment has become very professional and hostile.

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  • Translated by Maria Helena de Agrela Gonçalves Jardim

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    17 Feb 2020
  • Date of issue
    2020

History

  • Received
    22 Feb 2019
  • Accepted
    06 May 2019
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