posted on 2006-01-04, 12:44authored byRuth Lister, Noel Smith, Sue Middleton, Lynne Cox
The citizenship literature includes remarkably few empirical studies. In this
article we report on how young people in a British city perceive citizenship and
their own transitions as citizens. Of five models which emerged, the most
dominant was ‘universal status’, followed by ‘respectable economic independence’,
‘constructive social participation’ and, less frequently, ‘social-contractual’
and ‘right to a voice’. The extent to which the young people identified
themselves as citizens reflected these models and their own life experiences. They
drew clear distinctions between what it means to be a ‘good’ and a ‘first class’
citizen and had greater difficulty articulating their rights than their responsibilities.
Overall, their responses drew on fluid understandings of citizenship but
pointed more towards communitarian than liberal or civic-republican citizenship
paradigms. They also underlined how everyday understandings of citizenship
can have both inclusionary and exclusionary implications.
History
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Citation
LISTER, R., SMITH, N., MIDDLETON, S. and COX, L., 2003. Young people talk about citizenship: empirical perspectives on theoretical and political debates. Citizenship Studies, 7(2), pp. 235-253