Citizenship culture: psychosocial approach to the law in the context of a Rio de Janeiro slum

Abstract

In the first part of this paper, we approach the citizenship culture as it was developed in Colombia by the former mayor of Bogotá, Antanas Mockus, taking into account both the conceptual structure and the methodological principles of implementation, namely, the internalization of the rule and the creation of communication strategies aimed at achieving willingly cooperation. After making a psychosocial approach of the citizenship culture in the light of the theory of the social representations, we present the results of a prototypical analysis based on free association data from a sample of 156 teenagers who live at Mangueira slum, in Rio de Janeiro, exercise that enabled us to make a socio-cultural and political reading from the fulfillment or failure of the law. Finally, as an educational proposal, we hand in the results of a participatory action research —Aventureiros—, a program of education for citizenship focused on children, based on the very Colombian methodological principles of the citizenship culture and adapted to the Rio de Janeiro favela environment.

Keywords

• cultura cidadã
• representação social
• análise prototípica
• norma
• educação experiencial
• pesquisa-ação participativa