Social Responsibility: How it is Experienced by Three Groups of High School Students in Chile

This article presents an exploratory study on the experience of social responsibility in students from three different high schools in Santiago. The study followed a qualitative approach and the instruments used were semistructured interviews and focus groups. A total of 39 students, who were in their last year of high school, participated in the study. One of the findings is that students are aware of social issues and they are worried about the social situation in which they live or will live in the future. However, they also show lack of a stable commitment regarding these issues. The central category of this study was called social pre-occupation since this term reflects their present level of commitment. Some consequences of these findings for the educational system are discussed in the last section.