Citizenship

I

Introduction

Citizenship, the legal, moral, and social responsibilities and duties bestowed upon a member of a community. The term also denotes the legal status of being a native or naturalized member of a city or state. Citizenship refers to membership of a political community. It is therefore concerned with the relationship between the individual and a political community, and also between individuals within a given political community. This relationship is frequently seen in terms of a balance between the rights the individual has against the responsibilities the individual bears. There are different notions of what that relationship should look like, and, as a result, different conceptions of citizenship. This is the case in terms of theories of citizenship and also in the ways in which different societies have themselves understood citizenship.

II

Origins

The concept of citizenship originated in ancient Greece, around 700-600 bc (see Greek City-State). Citizens, who were male, concerned themselves with publicly debating, contemplating, and participating in the process of government, something that was seen as an essential part of the good life. By contrast, slaves and women were excluded from such processes. Following from this, the Roman conception of citizenship originally shared the Greek emphasis on participation, but as the Roman Empire grew it came to refer to a legal status, which gave the holder certain legal rights and immunities from arbitrary actions. Citizenship became a way to integrate different tribes and ethnic groups into the Roman Empire.

These two classical models of citizenship raise three key issues that continue to resonate in the modern debates about citizenship. First, participation in public affairs is emphasized as a key element of citizenship. A second issue is that of inclusion/exclusion and integration—who precisely is to be included and considered a citizen? Last, there is the notion of citizens as the bearer of rights—but which rights?

III

Participation and Education

Participation in public affairs consists of many things, from voting and serving on juries to taking an interest in the community where you live. Democratic societies require such participation. However, there has been increasing concern about the falling rates of political participation in many democracies. In the United Kingdom, this prompted the government to introduce citizenship education as part of the national curriculum in 2002. It was felt that in order to be active, informed, participatory, and responsible citizens, children needed to be informed about citizenship. This education covers three broad areas: social and moral responsibility, community involvement, and political literacy. The aim is to inform students of the balance between the rights and responsibilities they bear, to emphasize the value of participation in the community, and to provide information about the form and structure of democratic society together with the opportunities to participate in it.

Such civic or citizen education has also been introduced for those applying for a British passport. This is based on the idea that citizenship is about identity, an expression that one is a member of a community. Yet there are complex debates about how modern societies go about trying to include people from diverse backgrounds. One answer is that citizenship rights and responsibilities should be the same for all. In this way there is formal equality—everyone is treated the same. However, some argue that this oppresses people of different ethnic, cultural, religious, and sexual backgrounds and orientations. It is argued that the common rights and responsibilities of citizenship, produced originally by and for white men, cannot accommodate the needs of minority groups. What is needed, it is argued, is a multicultural citizenship, where rights and responsibilities are differentiated to take account of and celebrate diversity. Such group rights can include special representation rights to counter previous discrimination, such as all-female shortlists for parliamentary candidates, as well as exemptions for Sikhs from wearing crash helmets while on a motorcycle.

IV

The Right to Welfare?

This notion of citizenship involving different rights for different groups refers back to a basic controversy in debates about citizenship. What rights precisely does a citizen have; and what are the responsibilities of a citizen? Much of this controversy has settled around social rights of citizenship. That we have civil rights (basic civil liberties such as freedom from arbitrary exercises of power by the state, and freedoms of movement and expression) and political rights (the right to participate in politics, by voting, campaigning, and organizing) are relatively uncontroversial. Citizens also have social rights, in the form of the protection provided by the welfare state. However, these are the source of far more controversy. For some theorists, social citizenship rights are necessary to give meaning and enrich the other rights of citizenship. Poverty, it is argued, acts as a barrier to the full enjoyment of civil and political rights. Also, extreme poverty threatens to undermine the sense of common belonging that citizenship invokes. Yet others have argued that social rights make individuals passive recipients of government handouts and as such social rights should be limited to those cases where individuals are unable to look after themselves. These theorists emphasize that citizens have a fundamental obligation to work and support themselves.