Assess the extent to which the Modern State is based on Active Citizenship.

Written by Kayleigh McNulty (Oct 2005)

My aim in this essay is to assess the extent to which the modern state is based on active citizenship.

Active Citizenship

Active citizenship is a modern theory, it is a concept that has influenced the New Labour government. The concept is that instead of having the state provide everything, citizens actually work together and help each other. They take responsibility for themselves and other things that need to be dealt with in society instead of leaving them in the hands of the government. Active citizenship is where citizens exercise their rights from the state and carry out their responsibilities for it in return. It is clear why the government would support such a concept, as it means that they would lose less money in certain areas of expenditure.

As well as being viewed as the basis of the modern state, it is how communities were tied together in the past, where there were lots of close-knit relationships within the community and a person would willingly help another that needed it. I personally see it as a step forward as it involves citizens doing something for others.

Active citizenship has a similar concept to that of David Miller’s citizens as active community members.

Professor Dawn Oliver

“Active citizens, according to the Conservative view, would themselves take responsibilities for some of the things that need doing in society, rather than expect the state to do it for them: charitable and voluntary work, housing associations, neighbourhood watch schemes and the like are seen as alternatives to expensive, and often unsuccessful state provision.” Source: Oliver, D., Citizenship in the 1990s. Politics Review Volume 3, No.1, Sept 1993.

This is the view of professor D. Oliver, a laws professional, and author of many books on topics such as active citizenship. She feels that according to the traditional Conservative party, active citizens came together as a community, and worked for each other to be independent of the state. This means that charitable and voluntary work was carried out by everybody working together, whereas today this is quite untrue, as it is most likely to be carried out be middle class, middle aged women.

Also, this could have been the case when this quote was put out, but we have evidence that it is not relevant today. We can see this through the NHS, if everybody was working together as a community, then people would readily, and willingly give blood, this is obviously not the case, as the NHS has such huge waiting lists. They would be much more efficient if people were more willing to help one another in this way.

Additionally, the Conservatives feel that the middle class should no longer be picked on and pay more tax than any other class. They believe that if you put in the effort and work hard, it should show and you should be rewarded for it.

The Modern State

Dawn Oliver’s view, above, is no longer relevant to the modern state. In turn, this has been taken on by the New Labour government that have now renewed their policy to take on board the needs of the modern state. The New Labour government have also adopted the concept of communitarianism, which was developed by sociologist, Amitai Etzioni.

Amitai Etzioni

This sociologist developed the concept of communitarianism, which proposes the idea of restoring ideas of shared obligation and social responsibility to citizenship. It also says that it should be as much about doing something for other people as it is about doing things for yourself.

Amitai Etzioni, a leading communitarian, has argued for many family orientated measures enabling mothers and fathers to devote more time and energy into parenting. This would involve trade unions and employers making it easier for parents to work at home (teleporting) and the government to fully endorse the right to maternity, and even paternity leave. This would, in turn, give the children a more close and loving family life, and then limit the chances of truancy from schools. This would lead to a lower crime rate, and a higher percentage in school achievers.

The meaning of the word community changes slightly from generation to generation, which is acceptable as peoples situations change as time goes by. This is only fair then that the quotation from Dawn Oliver was no longer relevant to society, as it was what active citizenship and communitarianism meant back in 1993 when she wrote it. This is the reasoning for the Labour party to reconsider their agenda and reform as New Labour to fit the newly required needs of society in this day and age.

Conclusion

From my perspective, after looking at the views and opinions of a professor, a sociologist and the work of the government, I feel that the modern state is strongly based in the theory of active citizenship.

I can see that the idea of active citizenship, as well as communitarianism changes by generation as does the requirements of the modern state. In relation to this, political parties also try to keep up, and with this, abiding by the requirements of active citizenship an communitarianism.