Bildung as a core requirement for democracy

In Germany, the very intense and controversial debate about the SARS-CoV-2 virus led to anger, hatred and scorn on several sides. Even politicians referred to people with other opinions as fools. This is a very serious situation for a democratic system because democracy is based on open discussions and respectful cooperation. From our point of view, the problem described before is a consequence of a lack of Bildung. We’d like to talk about the relationship between democracy and Bildung. Bildung includes the toleration of different opinions and to take them respectfully into account. It also includes understanding what leads to that opinion and what is the utmost concern of the other person. Another part of Bildung is the ability of reflecting one’s own opinion. It allows people to critically reflect what their own guidelines and their own behaviour provoke. Hence, it allows people to overcome destructive guidelines they learned and developed earlier. Another issue is that Bildung empowers people to help shape their social environment. People that can influence their surrounding don’t feel powerless. In psychology, especially in the context of psychotherapy, it is well known that feeling powerless and having the feeling of being at the mercy of other people leads to anger. In the political context, this is an issue when politicians don’t take the opinions and wishes of people into account or don’t respect them. The feeling of having to accept what “the top brass” does can come up and can lead to this kind of frustration, mistrust and anger. And why should people partake in the democratic process when they have the feeling that they can’t influence anything? Why should they be interested in politics, when they can’t change anything at all? And why should they stand behind democracy when their interests are – in their point of view – not taken into account? Knowing that one can influence the political process and the social environment motivates to do this and to take part in the political process. That’s why Bildung is crucial for the acceptance of democratic systems.