A részvétel fogalom társada lomelméleti összefüggései - The Definition of Participation and Social Theory

In our research (UTASI 2013), we have considered the chances of the reformation of democracy through communal life and civic participation, since it would be an urgent necessity of present-day Hungarian society. This paper attempts to find how participation – an essential prerequisite for the interaction between the individual and the political system – could be defined by certain theoretical models and put in a broader social context. In our research, three main models were used: the civilizing process, the concept of social capital and the theories of civic society. However, it is not possible to explain all aspects of the problem with these models; therefore we have intended to analyse the concept of participation in a metatheoretical framework (SÍK 2011) and point out the possible research questions for future investigation.