Redefining Citizenship: What the Literature Says

Concerns about the strength and efficacy of our democracy are front and center for many Americans, including the very concept of democratic citizenship. How can we redefine “citizenship” for today’s context in a way that resonates with a diverse range of civic learning advocates? In this series, Citizens & Scholars is excited to share three projects we undertook to explore this question raised by the Mapping Civic Measurement report.

On December 10 at the 2024 Annual Conference on Citizenship, the winners of Citizens & Scholars’ Youth Civic Solutions Competition will be honored. These young people, ages 14-24, were asked to share their big, bold ideas about how to increase civic knowledge, participation, and trust among their Gen Z peers.

The conference theme, “Renewing Civic Health,” comes at a particularly critical moment. For months, political lawn signs decorated communities. putting our political differences on full display. As the signs slowly come down and communities start to look ahead, will we be able to move past the differences that defined us during election season? If we care about our civic health—the way communities are organized to define and address public problems—we must.

Our interviews with civic field leaders indicated that a sense of community or belonging was a major part of how people think about citizenship. People who feel this sense of belonging are more likely to come together to solve issues. But what about those who don’t feel connected or choose not to engage? Civic health depends on how people define citizenship and the roles they see for themselves in their communities.

In our interviews, we identified three categories of citizenship: traditional, American, and global. Recognizing, however, that there is extensive scholarly literature on the subject of citizenship, we thought it important to get a sense of that scholarship as well. To deepen our understanding, Citizens & Scholars partnered with a team of graduate students from American University’s Education Policy and Leadership program* who conducted the literature review shared below.

Their review further illustrated the complex nature of citizenship and organized it into seven distinct categories:

1. Traditional citizenship
2. American citizenship
3. Global citizenship
4. Cultural citizenship
5. Active citizenship
6. Silent citizenship
7. Digital citizenship

1. Traditional citizenship—legal membership of a society.

Across the literature, a common definition was citizenship granted by naturalization or birthright. This conceptualization of citizenship provides a level of privilege and is a “link between a person and the state or an individual and a nation” (Beaman, 2016). However, many also suggest that citizenship is not only legal membership but a feeling of belonging. If a citizen feels a sense of belonging to a particular place or people, they may also feel more responsibility for their actions within their community.    (O’Brien, 2011).

Likewise, citizenship relies on a set of values, which include responsibility, respect, equality, helpfulness, justice, ethics, sensitivity, dedication, honesty, and freedom. These values are then reflected in skills such as participation, literacy, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, decision-making, cooperation, awareness, empathy, and questioning (Gökçınar & Dere, 2024).

2. American citizenship—a legal and cultural position.

Legally, American citizenship is conferred by the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which grants rights and duties to individuals who are born or naturalized citizens of the United States. It’s based on the fundamental ideas outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: individual liberties, equal treatment under the law, and active engagement in civic affairs. It also represents a collective cultural identity that emphasizes freedom, fairness, democratic principles, and inclusiveness, promoting a cohesive national society (Holloway, 2019).

But in practice, American citizenship is more complicated than on paper. While every American should enjoy individual liberties and equal treatment under the law, evidence often indicates otherwise. Biases and prejudices can lead to the “othering” of individuals, regardless of citizenship status. Even birthright citizenship, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, has come into question, particularly as immigration debates have been fraught.

Yet, even when challenged, the principles of the Fourteenth Amendment have been upheld numerous times over its 150-year history—a testament, perhaps, to the resilience of America’s core values.

3. Global citizenship—an active world citizen.

Oxfam (2024) defines a global citizen best as “someone who is aware of and understands the wider world – and their place in it. They are a citizen of the world. They take an active role in their community and work with others to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable and fairer.”

Global citizenship can also refer to the “belief that individuals are members of multiple, diverse, local and non-local networks rather than single actors affecting isolated societies” (United Nations, 2024) . Global citizens protect the environment and promote social justice; they co-exist and explore connections across other cultures and countries, and are reflective of their place in the world.

4. Cultural citizenship—recognizing shared cultural heritage.

Cultural citizenship recognizes the importance of shared cultural heritage. This cultural dimension can be fostered by acquiring fundamental skills (reading, writing, and language proficiency), as well as through gaining a comprehensive understanding of history and cultural heritage. Cultures recognize common norms and traditions that influence citizens’ daily lives and experiences. Conversely, if a citizen chooses not to acknowledge norms or participate in traditions, and does not understand the history and cultural heritage of their community, they may be excluded from their society or community. This could lead to the marginalization of specific individuals, creating two classes: “full citizens and second-class citizens” (Beaman, 2016. p. 852).

5. Active citizenship—being engaged in your community.

We often associate active citizenship with community engagement. Active citizens contribute to and partake in activities that improve the communities they live in or are involved with, which ultimately improves the lives of all community members. Active citizens also “build awareness of how communities impact individuals, and how, in turn, an individual impacts, serves, and shapes” a community (Active Citizenship, 2024).

Research also suggests that active citizenship is connected with activities that help sustain our civil society and promote democracy. This covers a wide array of activities: traditional volunteering, protesting, collecting signatures for a petition, or simply voting in an election (Hoskins, 2014).

6. Silent citizenship—the result of marginalization or disconnection.

Silent citizenship takes two forms. In the first, citizens who have been “othered” or marginalized to such an extent that they actively choose to disengage from the responsibilities attributed to being a citizen in their society. These individuals have the knowledge and ability to engage but feel so unequal that they choose not to. The second form is citizens who are “disconnected from democratic politics—who are unaware of political issues, lack knowledge about public affairs, do not debate, deliberate, or take action, and most fundamentally, do not exercise their voice in elections” (Gest & Gray, 2015, p. 465). In each scenario, silent citizens “are both outsiders in their wider communities and politically inactive members of their polity” (Beaman, 2016, p. 853).

7. Digital citizenship—being responsible online.

The 21st century has seen exponential growth of digital technology and the introduction of smartphones which have become an ever-present fixture in many of our lives. Because of this, there is now a need to recognize digital citizenship as part of one’s identity as a citizen. Digital citizenship is “the responsible use of technology to learn, create, and participate” (James, Weinstein, & Mendoza, 2019, p. 5). Being a digital citizen in our modern era entails both critical thinking and responsibility. Digital citizens are accountable not only for their personal information, online reputation, and overall safety as they navigate the digital world but for engaging civilly and respectfully as well.

So, what’s the big picture?

Citizenship is multifaceted. It encompasses legal, cultural and social dimensions all of which influence an individual’s relationship with their community and the broader world. From the legal base to more modern notions of belonging, cultural identity, and digital engagement, individuals may feel they hold more than one type of citizenship or none at all.

Even actions and responsibilities associated with citizenship are deeply complex. Take voting for example. As described above, “silent citizens” may see their decision to abstain from voting as a moral one, actively deciding not to participate. Alternatively, a silent citizen may simply be disconnected from the democratic process, and therefore their disengagement is passive in nature. This distinction was described by our interviewees as well.

With this one example, we see that multiple things can be true at once: many aspects of citizenship are essential for the broader health of our democracy, but our democracy is made up of individuals—all of whom have the liberty to decide how they engage.

As we conclude this series, we will share the results from a small pilot survey of young people as we sought to find out—how do they think about citizenship, and are their views markedly different from what we’ve found so far?

*We would like to thank Vanessa Gibson, Bridget Green, Tamiyah Miller, Anna Rodriguez, and Cara Zanta, graduate students from American University’s Education Policy and Leadership program for conducting this literature review.

Special thanks to Anna Gallos for her important role in shaping this series.

References

Active Citizenship and Community Engagement. (2024). University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved June 26, 2024 from https://cla.umn.edu/undergraduate-students/cla-core-competencies/career-readiness-cla/active-citizenship-and-community-engagement

Beaman, J. (2016). Citizenship as cultural: Towards a theory of cultural citizenship. Sociology Compass. http://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12415

Bonilla‐Silva, E., & Mayorga, S. (2011). On (not) belonging: Why citizenship does not remedy racial inequality. In M.‐K. Jung, C. Vargas, & E. Bonilla‐Silva (Eds.), State of white supremacy: Racism, governance, and the United States (pp. 77–92). Stanford University Press.

Bosniak, L. (2006). The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. Princeton University Press.

Ebert, K. & Okamoto, D.G. (2013). Social Citizenship, Integration and Collective Action: Immigrant Civic Engagement in the United States. Social Forces, 91(4), 1267-1292. http://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sot009

Gest, J. & Gray, S. (2015).  Silent citizenship: the politics of marginality in unequal democracies, Citizenship Studies, 19:5, 465-473, DOI: 10.1080/13621025.2015.1074344

Glenn, E.N. (2010). Constructing Citizenship: Exclusion, Subordination, and Resistance. American Sociological Review, 76(1), 1-24. http://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411398443

Gökçınar, B. & Dere, İ. (2024). Is it Possible to Identify Basic Citizenship Values and Skills at a Universal Level? A Framework Attempt. Participatory Educational Research, 11(2), 97-116. http://doi.org/10.17275/per.24.21.11.2

Gross, F. (1999). Citizenship and Ethnicity: The Growth and Development of a Democratic Multiethnic Institution. Greenwood Press.

Holloway, C. (2019). The Meaning of American Citizenship. The Heritage Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/civil-society/report/the-meaning-american-citizenship

Hoskins, B. (2014). Active Citizenship. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_16

James, C., Weinstein, E., & Mendoza, K. (2019). Teaching Digital Citizens in Today’s World: Research and Insights Behind the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsense.org/system/files/pdf/2021-08/common-sense-education-digital-citizenship-research-backgrounder.pdf

Jawetz, T. & Malik, S. (2015, November 9). Turning Our Backs on the 14^th Amendment. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/turning-our-backs-on-the-14th-amendment/

Kochenov, D. (2020). Ending the passport apartheid: The alternative to citizenship is no citizenship—A reply. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 18(4), 1525-1530. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moaa108

Leite, S. (2022). Using the SDGs for global citizenship education: definitions, challenges, and opportunities. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 20(3), 401-413, https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2021.1882957

O’Brien, J. & Blessing, C. (2011) Conversations on Citizenship & Person-centered Work. Inclusion Press.

Ochoa Espejo, P. (2018). Why borders do matter morally: The role of place in immigrants’ rights. Constellations, 25(1), 71-86. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12340

Oxfam. (2024). What is Global Citizenship? Oxfam. https://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/who-we-are/what-is-global-citizenship/

Safran, W. (1997). Citizenship and nationality in democratic systems: Approaches to defining and acquiring membership in the political community. International Political Science Review, 18(3), 313-335. https://doi.org/10.1177/019251297018003006

Thorson, K. (2012). What Does It Mean to Be a Good Citizen? Citizenship Vocabularies as Resources for Action. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 644, 70-85. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23316143

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