Synopses & Reviews
An interesting collection of essays which examines the relevance of the concept of citizenship for the current debates in social and political theory. --Political Studies Association The concept of citizenship is central to the relations between individual and nation, but citizenship has never had the body of systematic theory comparable to democratic or state theory. In this impressive volume, an international group of contributors identifies key strands in the theory of citizenship and its relations to contemporary social and political change. Among the issues explored are the historical roots of citizenship and its modern development with the nation state and urban society; the differing traditions of citizenship in democratic theory and civil society in marxist theory; the relation of citizenship to welfare and the market; and the implications of citizenship for the problems of belonging, identity, and personality in the modern world. This interdisciplinary volume will be of wide interest to scholars and students in sociology, political science, political philosophy, and social policy.
Synopsis
Going beyond both traditional liberal theories of democracy and Marxist theories of civil society, leading international scholars rethink the relations between the individual and the state, community and family. They assess how social and political participation is changing in the modern world, investigate the historical roots of citizenship and its development alongside the nation state and urban society, and relate it to issues of welfare and the market. The final chapter asks whether the subordination of nation states to supranational institutions will replace state citizenship with a global conception of human rights.