학생들의 민주주의 인식과 역사교육 -고등학생과 대학생 설문조사 분석-

초록

This study examines South Korean students’ perceptions of democracy and the ways in which these perceptions are shaped, drawing on a survey conducted in April 2025 with 287 high school students nationwide and 115 university students in the Chungcheong region. Using four analytical dimensions—conceptual, evaluative, experiential, and normative—the study finds that students’ understanding of democracy converges on the cluster of freedom–opinion–expression. Democracy is predominantly perceived as a system that guarantees individual freedom against oppression and authoritarianism, yet it remains confined within individualistic, meritocratic, and procedural frames rather than being expanded into values of community solidarity and equality. A small group of students revealed distinct traces of Cold War anti-communist liberalism, and in some cases, this was rearticulated through neoliberal discourses of market and meritocracy, echoing New Right interpretations of democracy. The pathways through which students formed their democratic perceptions showed the strong influence of films and documentaries, teachers and classroom learning, and online platforms such as YouTube. Among these, history education played a particularly important role, with democratization movements (the April Revolution, the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, the June Democratic Struggle) being inscribed as narratives of sacrifice and achievement. Yet this emphasis often framed democracy narrowly in terms of procedural rights and institutional reforms, thereby reinforcing students’ tendencies to interpret democracy in individualistic and neoliberal terms. While these findings expose the limitations of students’ perceptions, they also reveal traces of participation and solidarity that provide opportunities for further development. This study argues that history education should expand such possibilities by embedding values of diversity, solidarity, equality, and the public good into historical narratives. Only when democracy is learned not merely as the protection of individual freedom but as a collective practice of respect and responsibility can Korean democracy be reproduced in a more mature and substantive form.

키워드