Introduction: The Dilemmas of Citizenship

Abstract

An introductory chapter maintains that the citizenship debate, which emerged in Western countries in the early 1990s, was generated by concerns over the status of the large numbers of immigrants, problems with the welfare state, & worries about increasing criminality & marginality. The discourse, which focused on citizenship as a frame to either redefine the welfare model or promote greater dependence on free markets, led to an alliance between neoliberals & conservatives. The theoretical grounding for new citizenship experiments is reviewed, noting that T. H. Marshall's (1950) concept of social citizenship jumped to the center of later debates. The studies in this volume explore the tension between citizenship as an ideal & citizenship as a set of institutions identified by Marshall. They address the development of institutions of political/social citizenship, & assess recent experiments in marketization & deliberation that have transformed the ideal of citizenship & altered its institutions. The two kinds of experiments analyzed are those dealing with the extension of the market & those that attempt to transcend formal political patterns with more participatory & social methods. A synopsis of each chapter is included. 41 References. J. Lindroth