There's this idea in social theory called Structure vs. Agency. Structure is the patterns of society that shape us; agency is our capacity to shape the structure. One way to think about democracy is that it's the process of widening our agency over the structure.
The least democratic society is one that is all structure and no agency. Society gives you a script—and we all follow it. To democratize that society is to loosen the structure and increase our agency over it — to turn the tables, reform the structure, re-write the script.
Democracy is not libertinism — it's not about no structures and no scripts. Rather, it's about what could be called 'plastic structures' (we can re-form them!) and 'editable scripts' (we can re-write them!).
This can help us think about how to teach democracy to young people. The biggest two democratic lessons are: (1) The structure is less natural or necessary than you believe; and (2) Your agency is more powerful than you believe.
For example, you can teach a democratic history where you (1) cut structure down to size, showing how different societal patterns could've been different, have been different & could be different in the future; and (2) tell inspiring stories of agency — of people changing things!
In short, one of the big messages of democracy is: It doesn't have to just be the case that society determines who you are — you, together with others, can work to turn the tables and co-determine what society is.
