Suchergebnisse

Contends that the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) impelled two basic transformations of the US welfare system. First, it changed the foundations of the system from entitlement to conditional benefits. Second, it officially encoded the perspective that full-time employment, along with work-conditioned benefits, would make citizens able to raise themselves & their families out of poverty. These changes in welfare occurred in a context in which most features of US citizenship are indeed conditional. Welfare reform, far from establishing either an aberration or a novel notion of citizenship, is in fact reshaping welfare policy to be more consistent with a prior, though greatly unspoken, grasp of what is here termed conditional citizenship. References. K. Coddon

Abstract
In this article we investigate the relationship between different educational systems and the citizenship activity of young people. We refer to a three-dimensional citizenship model developed by Zalewska and Krzywosz-Rynkiewicz: passive (patriotism and national activity); semi-active (loyalty and civic virtues); and active (political, social personal and action for change). A total of 1719 18-year-old students who almost completed their citizenship education at all levels of schooling, from fourteen European countries, were evaluated using the Citizenship Behavior Questionnaire. The results show that citizenship education is most effective when delivered as a separate subject at two levels of the educational system. However, the above does not apply to two types of citizenship behaviour: (1) personal activity, which flourishes when citizenship education is integrated with other subjects and is delivered at two levels of education; and (2) political activity, which is highest when citizenship education is integrated with other subjects and taught at one level only. The analysed models of citizenship education seem to promote different types of citizenship behaviour. Integration of citizenship education with other subjects enhances the willingness to participate in political life. Teaching citizenship using a mixed intensive model (integrated and as a school subject) is associated with higher levels of personal activity, whereas limiting it a school subject contributes to patriotism.

Citizenship information is information produced by or about national and local government, government departments and public sector organisations which may be of value to the citizen either as part of everyday life or in the participation by the citizen in government and policy formulation. This report describes a research project, funded by the British Library Research and Innovation Centre, which investigated the extent to which members of the UK public have expressed or unexpressed needs for citizenship information, their preferred routes to the acquisition of such information, and the suitability and approachability of the public library, among other agencies, for the user seeking citizenship information. The key elements of the project were: a national survey of almost 1,300 users of public libraries, Citizens Advice Bureaux and other information and advice agencies; another national survey, this time by personal doorstep interview, of almost 900 members of the UK public; a series of 9 focus group discussions with representatives of various sectors or interest groups, such as libraries, CABx and other information and advice agencies. The report discusses the background to the research, as well as the project methodology and major findings. The project found clear evidence that the public encounter situations in which information is required to help solve problems, and that they feel that access to information and freedom of information are very important to them in exercising their rights as citizens. The great majority of respondents saw public libraries as their preferred option in seeking citizenship information, although there were still areas of concern in that there was evidence to show that certain groups, such as disabled people and jobseekers, are less willing to use libraries. There was also a clear emphasis on public libraries as an appropriate location for computerised access to citizenship information, although other public places such as post offices and shopping centres would also attract a ...