Support for Freedom of Speech and its Restrictions Among Dutch Adolescents in Secondary Education

Freedom of speech is one of the core principles of democratic societies. For a thriving and sustainable democracy, it is crucial that young people learn about freedom of speech. International research has shown that adolescents’ support for freedom of speech is very high: over ninety percent of 14-year-old students agrees that everyone should always have the right to express their opinions freely (ICCS, 2009). Freedom of speech may however conflict with other rights and values of the democratic rule of law, such as equality or the right to anti-discrimination. Few studies have investigated how adolescents evaluate this tension between freedom of speech and other principles and values. Do adolescents recognize restrictions to freedom of speech? Where do they draw the line between what one is allowed to say in public or not? And to what extent does their own social position play a role in this evaluation? This paper aims to answer these questions. We advance on previous studies by not only studying adolescents’ support for freedom of speech in the abstract, but also in relation to other democratic principles and values, such as not hurting other people. Moreover, we analyse differences between adolescents depending on their sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, political socialization, and school and regional characteristics. We collected survey data among 2,500 first grade students (12-year-olds) in 49 secondary schools in the Netherlands. The results demonstrate that Dutch students show considerable support for free speech at the start of their secondary education. At the same time, students also recognize limits to the freedom of speech. These judgments depend on which values and principles freedom of speech is in conflict with (e.g., minority rights, equality, physical harm or the law), as well as on students’ sex, migration background, parental socioeconomic status, and school characteristics.