EMPOWERING YOUTH FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE!

Welcome world

All blogs that will be posted on this site, are devoted to the study of Active Citizenship and Political Socialisation. Most of the information provided in these blogs will be in reference to my choice of study, Sociology.

I will use a combination of my personal first hand experiences of political issues in the UK as well as, second hand data to represent various political issues within the UK and parts of the US.

 

Before you immerse in the information you will be reading, perhaps you would like to know a little more about what active citizenship is. Although, complex in many ways, when it is simply put citizenship refers to an individual’s rights and duties as members of a nation-state or city.

However as stated above, the information provided throughout the blogs will demonstrate a sociological understanding of concepts such as, citizenship thus, I will introduce key sociologist Pierson and Castles, (2006: 36) understanding of the term ‘citizenship’.  Marshall altered the definition above as he defined citizenship as a status which is enjoyed by a person who is a full member of a community. As he put forth this definition, he also established the need to divide citizenship into three essential elements:

  • Civil citizenship: Composed of the rights necessary for individual freedom i.e. freedom of speech and the right to defend and assert all one’s rights on terms of equality with others and by due process of law.
  • Social citizenship: The right to participate in an appropriate standard of living; this right is embodied in the welfare and educational systems of modern societies.
  • Political citizenship: The right to participate in exercise of political power, as a member of a body invested with political authority or as an elector of the members of such body.

The purpose of the divided elements of citizenship was to provide readers with a clear view of the different elements within principles of citizenship, which create inequalities between social classes. Whilst there are many other theoretical definitions of citizenship, T. H. Marshall whom is the original editor of the book listed above, has set foundations and acted as an inspiration for many other sociologists who wish to contribute to the definition of citizenship.

It is now important to demonstrate what it means to not only be a citizen, but an active citizen. To simply know your responsibility to participate in political matters or to be recognised under the law as a sovereign state or part of a nation, does not define an active citizen.

Active citizenship means knowing your rights AND practically engaging with your rights as part of a democracy or even within your local communities as the list bellow will make evident. To be active, is to be engaged and to be engaged is to expresses and demonstrate various forms of political actions, that represent values of human’s rights and democracy.

Examples of political actions that can be classified as being an active citizen are:

-Protesting

-Campaigning

-Community work

-Petition signing

-Social media advocates

For those who are interested in an illustrative method to understanding the concept of active citizenship, I have inserted a link bellow that provides a visual understanding to the concept.

 

Bibliography

Pierson, C. and Castles, F. (2006). The welfare state reader. Cambridge: Polity Press, p.39. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kSwy6f0PghMC&dq=th+marshall+citizenship&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s. (Accessed 12th February 2018)