Imagining and Practising Citizenship in Austere Times

• Main Author: John Clarke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Social Work & Society 2019-04-01
• Series: Social Work and Society
• Subjects: Citizenship; Rights and Responsibilities; Remaking of welfare; Workfare
• Online Access: https://ejournals.bib.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/sws/article/view/567

A central issue in the reform of welfare systems concerns the citizenship relationship. Citizenship is critical in three ways: • It has been the focus of political struggles to redraw the boundaries of citizenship: who counts as a citizen? • It has been the focus of reforms seeking to redraw the balance of ‘rights and responsibilities’ between the state and the citizen, making citizenship more conditional; and • It remains the focus of desires and demands for support and solidarity. Drawing on recent collaborative research with advice agencies (Citizens Advice in the UK), I explore how citizenship is imagined and practiced in different settings – from the policing of nationality to state welfare – contrasting the growing conditionality and exclusiveness of state-centric definitions with alternative imaginaries that celebrate expansive and horizontal forms of identification.