"Citizens have responsibilities as well as rights”. Assess this view, using examples.

Written by Simarjot Judge (Oct 2005)

What is a citizen?

Before assessing anything it is necessary to find the definition of the term “citizen”:

1. A person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation.

2. A resident of a city or town, especially one entitled to vote and enjoy other privileges there.

3. A civilian.

4. A native, inhabitant, or denizen of a particular place

A leading sociologist, Bryan S Turner defines citizenship ‘as that set of practices (legal, political, economic and cultural) that define a person as a competent member of society and which, as a consequence, shape the flow of resources to persons and social groups’

Citizenship may be said to address – the nature of rights, responsibilities and obligations, the form or type of such rights, responsibilities and obligations, the social and political forces that produce practices of various sorts, the arrangement whereby benefits are distributed among people or between people, or between peoples and the non-human world.

A citizen is also someone who is part of a community, someone who obeys the law, someone who has a passport, someone who has legal rights and someone who has responsibilities as a citizen.

Citizens Rights

Citizens rights depend on the country of which they have citizenship. For the purpose of this essay, it is necessary to think of citizens of the United Kingdom.

As citizens of the UK we have many rights, ranging from the freedom of speech to the right to free medical treatment. The rights we are given are designed to protect us from oppression and abuse. However, it is worth mentioning that these rights are not actually RIGHTS. The government has chosen to give us these rights and therefore can repeal them at any time. Considering the Labour party have an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, if Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to take our rights away, he would have no problems doing so. This is completely different to the system in the United States because they have their rights outlined in their written constitution. A very surprising fact is that our rights, were passed in the Human Rights Act 1998 (passed in 2000), just five years ago.

We have other rights, such as the right to move where we wish (freedom of movement), the right to find work, the right to vote, the right to free legal representation at a police station, the right to protest, the right to a fair trial.

Despite our ‘freedom’ of speech, there are limitations. It is a crime to incite racism or to slander others.

So, we have many rights which enable us to do things or entitle us to certain benefits. However, with these rights come responsibilities and as citizens our responsibilities are very important.

The idea responsibility/duty in relation to citizens is not a new one. Immanuel Kant, a very famous philosopher formulated a deontological theory. In Greek, “deon” means “duty” and hence, this theory is relevant to the idea of citizens having responsibilities. Kant said that if people ignored their responsibilities than the town/city they lived in would be in extreme disorder.

What responsibilities do we, as citizens have?

As citizens we have the duty to vote, to pay tax, to attend pre-16 school, to obey the law, to serve on a jury, to obey the law. These are just some of the many duties/responsibilities we share.

The fact that only 50% of the UK population turned out to vote in the last general election causes great concern. It shows a lack of interest in politics but also confirms the attitudes of some – “I am only one person, how much difference will I make?” This is very untrue and is an example of disregarding their responsibility. As our country is a democracy it is essential that we show interest in who governs us. If only 50% voted and Labour got elected it could have easily been so much more different if the other 50% also voted – there could have been a completely different outcome.

As we have the right to a fair trial it should be noted that citizens have the duty to serve on a jury if asked to. One person must sacrifice a part of their life if they expect the same treatment themselves, by this I mean if someone expects a fair trial, they should also serve on a jury.

Truancy would have been a problem in any generation but with new guidelines which holds the parents directly responsible for their child’s attendance has improved things drastically. Parents are now completely responsible for their child’s attendance at school, with the parents of those who don’t keep up regular attendance facing a jail term.