Political Awareness and Citizen Participation of Management Students of a Federal Public University in Southeast Brazil
Name: GERUZA FERREIRA MARTINS
Publication date: 27/10/2014
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ALFREDO RODRIGUES LEITE DA SILVA | Internal Examiner * |
| MARCOS PAULO VALADARES DE OLIVEIRA | Internal Examiner * |
| MARTA ZORZAL E SILVA | External Examiner * |
Summary: In a setting WHERE public participatory spaces are broadened in Brazil, one has to consider the expectations about raising socio-political values among university students in their process of professional and citizen qualification, in face of criticism to business administrators formation. Therefore, this study aims at understanding the dynamics of business undergraduate students political awareness at a public federal university in the southeast of Brazil, and their relationship with citizen participation in participatory public spaces in the state and municipalities. It adopts Sandovals (2001) analytical model of political awareness, combined with the literature on citizen participation, so as to understand participation in collective actions. It is a qualitative study in which data were gathered through documents, 30 questionnaires and 17 semistructured interviews with 30 business undergraduate students in 2014/1. Then the data underwent content analysis approach (BARDIN, 2004). The results show that 12 students do not participate in these public participatory spaces and that 18 of them participate in at least one of these spaces. Interest in exercising citizenship, improving public policies, getting involving in political issues and defending their interest in conflict circumstances are justifications listed by those who participate. Students with more active participation show beliefs, social values and expectations connected to political efficacy, collective identity, antagonistic interests, feelings of justice and injustice, which favor the will of acting collectively because they see their interests match the goals of collective actions in the movements they are involved. The students who do not participate suspect these participatory public spaces and show to be uninterested in public issues, even though they seem to be uncomfortable with not participating. Their beliefs, social values and expectations, associated to feelings of political inefficacy hinder their development of political awareness. We concluded that these students have common sense political awareness. They show social and political values that are inherent to current fads of peoples everyday life. On the other hand, students with more active participation display conflict political awareness, which motivates them to participate in places deemed as effective to their propositions. However, Centro Acadêmico Livre de Administração Honestino Guimarães CALAD (Honestino Guimarães Free Business Administration Academic Center) main space for 8 representing students' interests and participation shows to have no direction and participation in institutionalized bodies of the university.
