As a domain of
expectations, mirroring hope implicit in literacy, democracy
conjures meaning only if it is paralleled by democratic
participation in social and political experiences. When one of
the two terms of this critical equation diminishes-as is the case
with participation-democracy diminishes in the same proportion.
There are many reasons for decreasing participation. In
countries where effective democracy was replaced by democratic
demagoguery, changes, such as those brought about by
revolutions, revolts, and reforms, initially mobilize the
people, almost to the last citizen. We are still observing a
phenomenon symptomatic of democracy in East Europe and the
republics of the former Soviet Union. From the almost unanimous
enthusiasm over renewal, leading to formal conditions for
democracy, individual participation in government is slowly
diminishing. What are the causes of this phenomenon, which is
paralleled by diminishing interest in religion, art, and
solidarity?
Many answers are given, and even more hypotheses are advanced:
psychological fatigue, lack of democratic tradition, egotism,
desire to catch up with affluent societies. From the
perspective of the relationships characteristic of an
individual's literate language and literacy programs of societies
claiming to be democratic, the answer should be sought in the
conflict between literacy-based values and the expectations of
efficiency characteristic of the new scale of humankind.
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