This Blog is dedicated to the study of active citizenship and political socialisation.
I am a London based Criminology and Sociology student therefore the information on this blog refers to my knowledge and experience of being a UK citizen.
As J. Scot
t & G. Marshall (2004) put it in the Oxford Dictionary of Sociology; citizenship is; in legal and political theory, the rights and duties of the member of a nation state or city.
To be an active citizen means to be a member of a society who’s aware of current political state of their city/country and who actively involves themselves in shaping the world around them. Through education and participation in day to day tasks such as volunteering or recycling and in important events such as voting or protesting for the good of their community.
The easiest accessible source (Wikipedia) states that: Active citizenship refers to a philosophy espoused by organizations and educational institutions which advocates that members of companies or nation-states have certain roles and responsibilities to society and the environment, although those members may not have specific governing roles. An active citizen is someone who takes a role in their community; the term has been identified with volunteering by writers such as Jonathan Tisch, who wrote in the Huffington Post in 2010 advocating that busy Americans should try to help others, particularly by offering high-level professional expertise in such areas as banking, education, engineering, and technology to help the less fortunate. However, it is important to consider that Wikipedia might not be the most reliable source of information.
The video below illustrates an idea of who and active citizen is:
Defining citizenship could be problematic because even though citizen’s rights are usually written down as part of the law, their responsibilities are not stated this clearly. For instance, here in the United Kingdom, citizens have a right to access free health care but voting in elections is not mandatory. Despite the fact that many would agree that voting is a responsibility of all citizens, it isn’t a compulsory responsibility by law, rather, it is a commonly shared value.
Being an active citizen is more than just helping your community. It is also being politically involved in order to help build the country we live in.