 | This articlehas an unclearcitation style. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style ofcitation andfootnoting.(October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Active citizenship involves citizens having control over their daily lives as users of public services, allowing them to influence decisions, voice concerns, and engage with service provision. This includes both choice and voice, enabling citizens to impact service provision by participating in local policies, interacting with institutions, and expressing preferences. It encompasses activities in politics, workplaces, civil society, and private spheres. This concept emphasizes how citizens' interactions with staff, administrators, and politicians at different levels affect their ability to shape services according to their needs. Three dimensions are considered: choice, empowerment, and participation. Choice involves informed decisions about service use, empowerment allows individuals to control their lives as users, and participation includes engaging in policy processes and influencing services.[1]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Active citizenship" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Active citizenship or engaged citizenship refers to activeparticipation of acitizen under thelaw of anation discussing and educating themselves inpolitics andsociety,[2] as well as aphilosophy espoused by organizations and educational institutions which advocates that individuals,charitable organizations, and companies have certain roles and responsibilities to society and theenvironment. Active citizens may be involved in public advocacy and protest, working to effect change in their communities.
An active citizen is someone who takes a role in the community; the term has been identified with volunteering by writers such asJonathan Tisch, who wrote in theHuffington Post in 2010 advocating that busy Americans should try to help others, particularly by offering high-level professional expertise in such areas asbanking,education,engineering, andtechnology to help the less fortunate.[3]
Active citizenship is considered abuzzword by some[who?]due to its vague definition. Examples include volunteering, donating, and recycling.
Developments insocial media andmedia literacy have changed how scholars begin to look at, and define active citizenship.[4] Active citizenship in politics can lead to an apparent consumption of the engaged person rather than offering people with an informed, active opinion.[5] Social media sites let people spread information, and create events to provide opportunities for engaged citizenship.[6]
Social media and the internet provide a public access point to government affairs, and police, away fromtown hall meetings, creating communities with similar concerns to recognize the pitfalls of governments and government policies.[6]
Due to concerns over such things as a lack of interest in elections (reflected by low voter turnout), the British Government has launched acitizenship education program.[when?] Citizenship education is now compulsory in UK schools up to 14 and is often available as an option beyond that age.
InScotland, UK, active citizenship has been one of the three major themes ofcommunitypolicy sinceThe Osler Report (section 6.6) in 1998. TheScottish Government's 2009 guidelines forcommunity learning and development,Working and Learning Together, has active citizenship as a target within other policy aims. Britain has a points-basedimmigration system, and in 2009 was considering a probationary period for newly admitted immigrants which would examine, in part, how well they were being so-calledactive citizens.[7]
InDenmark, active citizenship is part of the curriculum in Danish teacher's education. The course is defined as 36 lessons.[8]
InCanada, there is anActive Citizenship Course being run atMohawk College in Hamilton,Ontario. It is a compulsory course that is delivered by the Language Studies Department to all students at the college.
In the United States, writerCatherine Crier wondered in theHuffington Post about whether Americans had lost sight ofThomas Jefferson's sense of active citizenship. Crier lamented how Americans have tended to neglect participating in voluntary associations, and tend to live as "strangers apart from the rest", quotingTocqueville.[9] In contrast, writerEboo Patel inNewsweek suggested that PresidentObama had a somewhat different sense of active citizenship, meaning strong families, a vibrant civic center in which persons of different faiths and secular backgrounds work together, with government acting as a "catalyst".[10]
Jose Antonio Vargas writes in his memoirs,Dear America: Notes from an Undocumented Citizen, that undocumented immigrants, who contribute to the cultural, social, and economic fabrics of their adopted countries, are and ought to be considered citizens of those countries, notwithstanding what immigration authorities call them. He calls this a "citizenship of participation".[11]
I introduced Citizen You, the movement I've spearheaded to encourage Americans to utilize their professional skills to help others. This new kind of volunteering, which has come to be known as 'active citizenship,' is a fresh, innovative solution to an old problem: Countless busy Americans would love to help others, but simply don't have the time to figure out the perfect way to be useful. What could be more useful than applying high-level professional expertise -- in banking, law, education, engineering, technology, and other fields -- toward problems faced by those who are less fortunate?
Becoming British just got trickier. Under a new government proposal announced on Aug. 3, would-be Brits may have to work a little bit harder to get their citizenship when a second test is added to the country's points-based immigration system. If the plan goes through, applicants would serve a term as 'probationary citizens,' winning or losing points on the path to the passport depending on how well they fit into British society. Critics have also attacked the ways points could be awarded. Some worry that the 'active citizenship' fast track would coerce candidates into volunteering,
Alexis de Tocqueville, described our challenge over a century ago in his monumental work, Democracy in America. So clearly did he see the strength of a democracy and the weakness of human character, his words might have been written today. He said, in summary, that our real power as a people came through voluntary associations. Our personal freedoms would be protected if we could voluntarily resolve the problems of society, rather than permit the heavy hand of government to do it for us. But he recognized our great weakness--the willingness to live 'as strangers apart from the rest'.... we Americans have failed to shoulder our responsibilities. The qualities of active citizenship that Jefferson ascribed to us have not been realized, nor have our appointed leaders lived up to their noble assignment.
Barack Obama's vision of the good society is based on the idea of strong families, a vibrant civic sector that includes groups from various faith and secular backgrounds working together, and a government that serves as a catalyst, a convener and a capacity-builder, while always respecting the line between church and state. And Barack Obama's Faith Council gives me a vision for what active citizenship in that good society can look like.
