Abstract

This chapter discusses the problems and possibilities of media-based public dialogue. The educational perspective is on the non-formal and informal citizenship education of adults. The chapter starts by defining the kind of dialogue suitable for pluralist democratic societies as a ‘radical’ dialogue. Then the focus turns towards two central problems that arise from the pluralistic nature of contemporary democratic societies where, nevertheless, we often tend to forget the plurality of our ‘normalities’ in our everyday encounters. These specific problems are stereotyping and misunderstanding. In the end, I propose a self-reflective attitude as a key to successful public dialogue in pluralist democratic societies.