2134/653 Ruth Lister Ruth Lister Noel Smith Noel Smith Sue Middleton Sue Middleton Lynne Cox Lynne Cox Young people talk about citizenship: empirical perspectives on theoretical and political debates Loughborough University 2006 untagged Language, Communication and Culture not elsewhere classified Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified Sociology 2006-01-04 12:44:38 Journal contribution https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Young_people_talk_about_citizenship_empirical_perspectives_on_theoretical_and_political_debates/9475265 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.