Young people talk about citizenship: empirical perspectives on theoretical and political debates
Ruth Lister
Noel Smith
Sue Middleton
Lynne Cox
2134/653
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.
2006-01-04 12:44:38
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Language, Communication and Culture not elsewhere classified
Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified
Sociology