Democratic deliberation starts at the dinner table: Young Danes and relatable political discussions in their ‘safe gardens’

The term ‘safe gardens’ (Stald, 2023) indicates a private space with a homely atmosphere of safety, embracing those with a right to be present, excluding ‘threatening’ visitors. But the safe garden is not closed off – you can walk in and out, talk over the hedge, and listen, without being noticed, to what goes on outside the hedge. You can bring in information that you have compiled in other contexts, offline or online. This metaphor describes the reality of being informed and participating citizens for many young Danes. The study behind this paper shows that young Danes are quite interested in being informed about small-scale relatable and big-scale political topics. They know many things about many topics. They trust the democratic system and social institutions. However, they do not perceive everyday exchanges in ‘safe garden’ settings as political debate or consider that local events in their every day lives may also be political.
There are many online and offline participation opportunities for young citizens. The findings show that most young Danes exercise a kind of sub-activist agency (Bakardjieva) when they discuss over the dinner table or in other offline private settings with family and friends or when they sign petitions or avoid buying items for political reasons. However, when it comes to participation in public debate, the majority sign off. The arguments for this are fear of not knowing enough, repercussions, sticking out your nose, or lack of motivation (DUF 2024).
The research question that frames the objective for the paper is: “What is the discrepancy between the self-perceived lack of political, democratic participation among young Danes, and the meaning of the actual everyday deliberation that takes place in their ‘safe gardens’.
The paper draws on findings from a study that investigates young Danes’ experiences with being informed, democratic, digital citizens, including their democratic deliberation and participation. The study comprises interviews (2021) with sixteen 16-to-24-year-old Danes. The findings from this study form the basis for the second study (2024), which comprehends interviews with 20 first-grade high school students, written essays from 75 first and second-grade high school students, and a workshop with the same 75 students. In the workshop, the students created a podcast or rap to motivate younger teens to be informed and speak up.
The paper contributes to an important understanding of young citizens’ intrinsic democratic and political potentials in the light of derived democratic normativity and self-perceived lack of political insight and agency.
References:
Bakardjieva, M. (2009). Subactivism: Lifeworld and Politics in the Age of the Internet. The Information Society, 25(2), 91–104.
DUF–Dansk Ungdoms Fællesråd. 2021. Demokratianalysen 2021. Epinion for DUF.
Stald, G. (2023). Mobile Democracy: Changing Conditions for Young Danes’ Democratic Information and Participation. Journalism and Media 4: 272–288.