While the model of deliberative democracy gives a crucial role to dialog, empirical evidence has not yet established if discussion helps to reach a better understanding of political issues and, above all, if individuals are prepared to change their views. It is still unclear when the deliberative model, and more specifically discussion, could be usefully employed as a teaching tool, to improve students' knowledge. This article presents an exercise performed within the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the LUISS University of Rome. Students were asked to discuss in the classroom the issues related to the course, and to cast a vote on selected issues before and after deliberation. Although our sample is not representative, we have gathered evidence from the same population on a rather large number of issues. Students changed their view in 24.6% of cases, and they agreed that discussion increased their understanding, while those with strong ex-ante views resulted more reluctant to change their opinions because of discussion. The analysis also showed the presence of individuals that are more likely to be permeable to discussion while others that are more likely to be impermeable.
Mentre il modello della democrazia deliberativa attribuisce un ruolo cruciale al dialogo, evidenze empiriche non hanno ancora stabilito se la discussione aiuti a raggiungere una migliore comprensione delle questioni politiche e, soprattutto, se gli individui siano pronti a cambiare le loro opinioni. Non è ancora chiaro quando il modello deliberativo, e più specificamente la discussione, potrebbe essere utilmente impiegato come strumento di insegnamento, per migliorare la conoscenza tra gli studenti. Questo articolo presenta un esercizio svolto presso il Dipartimento di Scienze politiche e sociali dell'Università LUISS di Roma. Agli studenti è stato chiesto di discutere in classe le questioni relative al corso e di esprimere un voto su questioni selezionate, prima e dopo la deliberazione. Sebbene il nostro campione non sia rappresentativo, abbiamo raccolto dati sulla stessa popolazione per un numero piuttosto elevato di questioni. Gli studenti hanno cambiato opinione nel 24,6% dei casi e hanno convenuto che la discussione ha aumentato la loro comprensione, mentre quelli con forti opinioni ex ante sono risultati più riluttanti a cambiare opinione a causa della discussione. L'analisi ha anche mostrato la presenza di individui che hanno maggiori probabilità di essere permeabili alla discussione mentre altri che hanno maggiori probabilità di essere impermeabili.
Does Discussion Lead to Opinion Change within Political Science Students? A Pedagogical Exercise of Deliberative Democracy
Archibugi D;Cellini M
2019
Abstract
While the model of deliberative democracy gives a crucial role to dialog, empirical evidence has not yet established if discussion helps to reach a better understanding of political issues and, above all, if individuals are prepared to change their views. It is still unclear when the deliberative model, and more specifically discussion, could be usefully employed as a teaching tool, to improve students' knowledge. This article presents an exercise performed within the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the LUISS University of Rome. Students were asked to discuss in the classroom the issues related to the course, and to cast a vote on selected issues before and after deliberation. Although our sample is not representative, we have gathered evidence from the same population on a rather large number of issues. Students changed their view in 24.6% of cases, and they agreed that discussion increased their understanding, while those with strong ex-ante views resulted more reluctant to change their opinions because of discussion. The analysis also showed the presence of individuals that are more likely to be permeable to discussion while others that are more likely to be impermeable.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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