The ideology of democracy/dictatorship as youth migrate

ABSTRACT

This article is an exploration in the mode of thinking of refugee youth on the relations of ‘democracy’ and ‘dictatorship.’ Tracing the geopolitical relations of authoritarian and democratic forms of governing we demonstrate the manner in which these political forms are socio-historically interdependent yet appear as politically distinct, which we understand as an ideological form of consciousness. Expanding out from interviews and focus groups conducted with refugee youth from the Middle East and North Africa who arrived in Canada to resettle, our analysis attempts to go deeper than that simply creating space for the voices of refugee youth. Instead, we want to theorise from the data to reconceptualise the social and economic projects that have been named as democratisation or youth at-risk. The conscious reproduction of democracy and dictatorship as distinct political forms requires that refugee youth learn to live in and act upon their world through an ideological mode of consciousness that furthers the relations of global capitalism and encourages young people to align their aspirations with neoliberalism. We, therefore, aim to reorient theorisations of democracy and dictatorship, and in doing so, challenge the forms of consciousness and praxis that arise from the bourgeois regime of political rights.     

College Student Psycho‐Educational Functioning and Satisfaction with Online Study Groups

As part of required coursework, 112 students in an educational psychology course made asynchronous postings to online study groups. Students permitted their course marks to be used for research purposes and completed a questionnaire that assessed a range of psycho‐educational characteristics as well as personal interpretations of the online study group experience. Students did not perceive the benefits of online study groups equally, but such evaluation was not associated with academic achievement. Results suggest that psycho‐educational functioning relative to satisfaction with online study groups is similar to psycho‐educational functioning relative to satisfaction with learning events generally. In this regard, the difference between student functioning in virtual and real learning environments may not be as apparent as has been suggested.