SOCIAL ACTORS AND DEMOCRACY

THE REFLEXES OF ALAIN TOURAINE'S THEORY IN THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION PROJECT “EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRACY”.

Abstract

The research presented originated from the university extension project “Education for Democracy” which takes place in high schools located in the Metropolitan Region of Belém, State of Pará. The study had as theoretical reference the democracy in Alain Touraine's perspective, because the theorist sought to study democracy at the global level, pointing out some particularities of Latin America. We sought to answer whether the university extension project, in contact with secondary students, can contribute to the formation of social actors, through the proposal of dialogue and reflection, in the democratic regime exposed by Alain Touraine. The objectives set to analyze this problem were: 1) Understanding the theory of democracy referring to the sociologist; 2) To verify the work plan for 2018 and 2019 and their respective results; 3) Checking the 2020 work plan and compare with the activities carried out; 4) To verify or to examine the reach of the posts and activities carried out during 2020 on the social networks of the “Education for Democracy” project. The methodology used was bibliographic and documentary, as well as exploratory and quantitative research. Thus, the approach method employed was the deductive and the procedural was the monographic method. The result was divided into two periods. In 2018 and 2019, with presential meetings, there was an effective response in the contribution of the project in understanding the topics addressed in the classrooms, promoting reflection on the basic rights of students. On the other hand, the year 2020 did not enable the desired reach by the extension project, having fragile and impaired criteria for the proper study of the students' reflection on the subject.

Keywords:  Democracy; Alain Touraine; University Extension Project.