The article is a report on a qualitative study conducted among 703 students from Warsaw/Poland public universities. The purpose of the study was to identify projected behavior in the face of the threat scenario—the so-called “neo-totalitarianism,” created by experts of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The survey was carried out using a proprietary projection test. Based on the written statements of the participants of the study, the reasons for choosing a strategy of non-engagement in the light of rising neo-totalitarianism were presented. The following ways of justifying the lack of any involvement were distinguished: aversion to politics, lack of adequate competence, lack of necessary personality traits, having other priorities and life goals, pointlessness of social activity, fear of possible consequences, focus on one’s own life, inability to identify the reasons for failures, belief in the unlimited right of others to proclaim their own beliefs, and minimalist understanding of democracy.
AmnåEEkmanJ (2013) Standby citizens: diverse faces of political passivity. European Political Science Review6(2): 261–281.
2.
ArvanitidisP (2017) The concept and determinants of civic engagement. Human Affairs27(3): 252–272.
3.
BaldiniMHTiefenbacherRTerzoglouE, et al. (2024) Listening to children and young people in Sweden: practices, possibilities, and tensions. Global Studies of Childhood14(2): 214–226.
4.
BaumlMDavis SmithVBlevinsB (2022) Who Cares?’: young adolescents’ Perceived barriers to civic action. RMLE Online45(3): 1–20.
5.
BeckU (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage Publications.
6.
BiestaGLawyRKellyN (2009) Understanding young people’s citizenship learning in everyday life. The role of contexts, relationships and dispositions. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice4(1): 5–24.
7.
BuckinghamD (2006) The Making of Citizens. Young People, News and Politics. London and New York: Routledge.
8.
DanielsRJ (2021) What Universities Owe Democracy. Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press.
9.
DavidsNWaghidY (2016) Higher education as a pedagogical site for citizenship education. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice11(1): 34–43.
10.
ErsoyAF (2014) Active and democratic citizenship education and its challenges in social studies classrooms. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research55: 1–20.
11.
GalstonWA (2001) Political knowledge, political engagement, and civic education. Annual Review of Political Science4(1): 217–234.
12.
GotoSTMartinC (2009) Psychology of success: overcoming barriers to pursuing further education. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education57(1): 10–21.
13.
HameiriBBar-TalDHalperinE (2014) Challenges for Peacemakers. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences1(1): 164–171.
14.
HennMFoardN (2013) Social differentiation in young people’s political participation: the impact of social and educational factors on youth political engagement in Britain. Journal of Youth Studies17(3): 360–380.
15.
HightonBWolfingerRE (2001) The first Seven Years of the political life Cycle. American Journal of Political Science45(1): 202–209.
16.
HoskinsB (2013) What does democracy need from its citizens? In: PrintMLangeD (eds) Civic Education and Competences for Engaging Citizens in Democracies. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 23–35.
17.
HrehorowiczA (2021) Postawy pokolenia Z wobec obywatelskości. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek.
18.
KahneJCrowDLeeN (2012) Different pedagogy, different politics: high school learning opportunities and youth political engagement. Political Psychology34(3): 419–441.
19.
KeatingAKerrD (2013) Putting participation into practice: Re-evaluating the implementation of the citizenship curriculum in England. In: HedtkeRZimenkovaT (eds) Education for Civic and Political Participation: A Critical Approach. New York and London: Routledge, 117–132.
20.
KopińskaV (2019) Szkoła jako miejsce antyedukacji obywatelskiej. In: SzafraniecK (ed) Młodzi 2018. Warszawa: Apropos Serwis Wydawniczy, 149–161.
21.
Kwiecińska-ZdrenkaM (2004) Aktywni czy bezradni wobec własnej przyszłości?Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika.
22.
KwiecińskiZ (2017) The Sociopathology of education. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Dolnośląskiej Szkoły Wyższej.
23.
Lannegrand-WillemsLChevrierBPerchecC, et al. (2018) How is civic engagement related to personal identity and social identity in late adolescents and Emerging Adults? A person-Oriented approach. Journal of Youth and Adolescence47(4): 731–748.
24.
LevitskySZiblattD (2018) How Democracies Die. New York: Penguin.
25.
LevyBLMAkivaT (2019) Motivating political participation among youth: an analysis of factors related to adolescents’ political engagement. Political Psychology40(5): 1039–1055.
26.
MaitlesHDeucharR (2006) `we don't learn democracy, we live it!’: consulting the pupil voice in Scottish schools. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice1(3): 249–266.
27.
MattssonCHammarenNOdenbringY (2016) Youth ‘at risk’: a critical discourse analysis of the European commission’s radicalisation awareness network collection of approaches and practices used in education. Power and Education8(3): 251–265.
28.
MeadLM (2004) The great passivity. Perspectives on Politics2(4): 671–675.
29.
MilojevićI (2005) Educational Futures. London and New York: Routledge.
30.
PascarellaETTerenziniPT (2005) How College Affects Students. Volume 2: A third decade of Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
31.
PickardS (2019). Politics, Protest and Young People: Political Participation and Dissent in 21st Century Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
32.
PontesAIHennMGriffithsMD (2017) Youth political (dis)engagement and the need for citizenship education: Encouraging young people’s civic and political participation through the curriculum. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice14(1): 3–21.
33.
Report. Poland 2050 (2011). Warszawa: Komitet Prognoz “Polska 2000 Plus” przy Prezydium PAN.
34.
Saiz‐LinaresARodríguez‐HoyosCSusinos‐RadaT (2018) “I think we are still very directive”: teachers’ discourses on democratic student participation. British Educational Research Journal45(1): 83–98.
35.
Sánchez-GarcíaLDíezMSánchez-QueijaI, et al. (2024) Civic engagement in emerging adulthood: variation by gender and SES, and association with personal adjustment. Sage Open14(4): 3.
36.
SardočMCoadyCAJBufacchiV, et al. (2021) Philosophy of education in a new key: on radicalization and violent extremism. Educational Philosophy and Theory54(8): 1162–1177.
SkarżyńskaK (2019) My. Portret psychologiczno-społeczny Polaków z polityką w tle. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.
39.
SloamJ (2007) Rebooting democracy: youth participation in politics in the UK. Parliamentary Affairs60(4): 548–567.
40.
TickellJ (2018) The Revolution Generation: How Millenials Can Save America and the World (Before It’s Too Late). New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
41.
WeissJ (2020) What is youth political participation? Literature Review on youth political participation and political attitudes. Frontiers in Political Science2(1): 1–12.
42.
WoodBETaylorRAtkinsR, et al. (2018) Pedagogies for active citizenship: learning through affective and cognitive domains for deeper democratic engagement. Teaching and Teacher Education75: 259–267.
43.
ZimmermanMAEismanABReischlTM, et al. (2018) Youth empowerment solutions: Evaluation of an after-school program to engage middle school students in community change. Health Education & Behavior45(1): 20–31.
