Term Paper on "Active Citizenship Defining Active Citizenship"

Term Paper 9 pages (2290 words) Sources: 3 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Active Citizenship

Defining Active Citizenship:

Citizenship is an important political and philosophical concept and it occupies a pivotal place in western political thinking. What is citizenship and who is a citizen are questions that have attracted unlimited attention from political circles in western countries. Citizenship is usually associated with belonging to a country that allows a person certain rights. Citizenship is thus seen as a status by virtue of which a person enjoys some important rights such as right to vote, property, education, work etc. However a not so recent but definitely a relatively new concept in the area is that of active citizenship.

An active citizen is one who understands that if citizenship grants him some rights, it also puts on him some responsibilities. Active citizenship makes it mandatory for the citizens to actively participate in the political process of the country. In active citizenship, "human beings are posited not as passive recipients of expert advice but as active citizens who weigh up all the options and decide upon their own course of action" and for this reason, we can say that active citizenship is a concept where "the responsibility for decisions has been democratized...This emphasis on 'freedom of choice' and 'self-determination'...reflects a more general emphasis on active citizenship in many contemporary societies, evident, for example, in public health, welfare, and education." (Bunton, Peterson, 2002: 181-182)

Active Citizenship and Social Capital:

However vague the concept of citizenship may be, it is loosely associated with rights. However when responsibility is added to the definition, it gives a whole new dimension to the concept transforming it into active citizenship, which Putnam (2002) is critically linked with the concept of "civic engagement." According to Putnam, active citizenship helps in building "social capital," which is defined as "the institutions, relationships, attitudes and values that govern interactions among people and contribute to economic and social development" (Grootaert and Van Bastelaer, 2001). Social capital can be further divided into structural and cognitive capital. By structural we refer to institutions and they rules, which govern them.

By participating in building structural social capital, a citizen engages in transformation, modification, repealing and remaking of the laws and rules by which an institution works. For example when public schools had a pledge of allegiance system and prayers in schools, some people believed it violated their right to raise their children according to their own beliefs. They took their complaint to the court. This is called active participation for structural change. The other type of social capital is cognitive which refers to values and beliefs, which govern our societies. By participating in the transformation of social values and in "deliberate construction of sociability for the purpose of creating this resource" (Bordieu, 1986,cited in Portes, 1998) a person becomes actively involved in the larger political system. Nicholas Rose notes, that through participation in transformations of values, practices and rules, 'individuals are not merely "free to choose," but obliged to be free, to understand and enact their lives in terms of choice' (1999:87).

Active Citizenship and Education

Since active citizenship has become a major subject of political debate, educators are also stressing the need of introducing this concept in school curriculum and making students more aware of their responsibilities as active citizens of a country. The idea that students must learn about becoming good citizens is not a new one. In 1985, Longstreet wrote:

Citizenship may be widely accepted as the core of the social studies, but it is a phantom core. Whatever is happening in the curriculum...the reason given for doing what we do is ultimately related to the development of good citizenship. [However,] citizenship is the phantom figure whose form is so unclearly perceived that it may be used to encourage whatever is happening in the curriculum to go on happening."

But the emphasis has now moved from good citizenship to active citizenship. Political thinkers maintain that students need not only learn about being good citizens but must also understand how they cane be active citizens of a county. The definition of citizenship education is normally based on the work of TH Marshall who believed that citizenship had three important dimensions namely the civil, the political and the social. The civil referred to the rights of a person to attain and maintain individual freedom as citizens of a state, the political pointed to 'the right to participate in the exercise of political power, ' while social dimension encompassed 'the whole range from the right to a modicum of economic welfare and security to the right to share to the full in the social heritage and to live the life of a civilized being according to the standards prevailing in the society'.

In the UK, the Crick Report played an important role in the introduction of citizenship education. Drawing from Marshall's work, the authors described citizenship education as something that comprised, "three things, related to each other, mutually dependent on each other, but each needing a somewhat different place and treatment in the curriculum: social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy'. In this connection the authors argued that social responsibility would teach students of developing "self-confidence and socially and morally responsible behavior both in and beyond the classroom, both towards those in authority and towards each other."

As active citizens of the country, the students would also be "learning about and becoming helpfully involved in the life and concerns of their communities, including learning through community involvement and service to the community." And in order to become more political aware, students should be taught "how to make themselves effective in public life through knowledge, skills and values-what can be called 'political literacy', seeking for a term that is wider than political knowledge alone." (Crick Report, paras 2.10-2.12.) but while it is desired, it has also been argued that teachers may not always encourage active citizenship. It was found that "Teachers are inclined to socialize students toward passive, conventional forms of civic action and to avoid discussion of the more personally responsible, active modes of participation." [Ferguson (1991, 392)]

Students must be told the distinction between active and passive type of citizenship. It is essential that students are no longer taught how to be good citizens but also explained what it means to be actively involved in citizenship. There are numerous examples of active citizens around us. These were the people who made sure that the responsibility for brining about change was not left to politicians or higher-ups but sought to bring changes themselves. Students must understand that "active citizenship has to do with the discharging of duties and responsibilities to the political community and its members, while passive citizenship is associated with sitting back and claiming the rights that are due to the individual qua citizen." (Dobson: 2003: 39) the examples of people like Malcolm X, Martin Luther Jr. And Rosa Parks can be given to explain what is meant by active participation.

Active participation doesn't mean a person has to be in the government or work at a higher level. He can start making a change from his community and take it further because every active step results in some difference and this brings about immense change. Martin Luther Jr. was instrumental in civil rights movements. If he had believed in passive citizenship, there would have been no civil rights for black people. This is indeed an enlightening example of active participation. Students are the future of any nation. If they understand the true meaning of active citizenship, they can bring serious changes where required.

Active Citizenship and Impediments

Active Citizenship is highly desired and is definitely a much better form of citizenship than passive one. However it is not easy to engage in active citizenship because of several impediments. Fostering active participation is subject to certain laws, rules and institutional roadblocks that hinder the process and block the path to more active engagement in civic and political matters. Governments do not always encourage active participation and may even choose to curtail such actions by all means possible. One good example of this was witnessed during the Vietnam War when American students rallied against the war. Their actions were not encouraged and in many cases, their own universities and colleges placed a ban on such activities.

Women citizens have always felt a strange kind of alienation from active citizenship. There are some serious impediments in their active engagement as they feel that citizenship in western countries given men preference over women. The Good Samaritan, the brave solider, the charismatic statesman are just some of the masculine role models we see around which makes it rather difficult for women to enter the arena and take on the similar roles. Increased participation is not always possible for women since they have to work really hard to break social and political barriers. It took women a long time to become judges, pilots, politicians etc. They were usually restricted to areas, which were considered rather female-dominated such as nurses and teachers.… READ MORE

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