Education and Universalism in Europe. When Education Supports Democracy
The increasing of unemployment, social insecurity and poverty are making many
Europeans contest the democratic foundations of Europe. It is a world systemic crisis that,
on the one hand, nurtures the migration flows, on the other hand, it intensifies the
individualist tenets of neoliberalism and contemporarily the hostility against migrants to
which the social insecurity is often attributed because in a sense they are the evident proof
of the end of welfare assured by Nation-State in the past. In this context, it is relevant to
understand the role of education in promoting the "democratic universalism", the
founding value of democracy according to which institutions should remove social
inequalities. Today this value is in crisis also because it asks to be re-elaborated
recognising cultural pluralism, especially if we consider European societies are becoming
multicultural increasingly.