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Active Citizenship: An Empirical Investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2011

Jenny Onyx ,
Sue Kenny  and
Kevin Brown
Jenny Onyx
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of Technology, Sydney E-mail: Jennifer.Onyx@uts.edu.au
Sue Kenny
Affiliation:
Deakin University
Kevin Brown
Affiliation:
Deakin University
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Abstract

This paper reports on a study of what active citizenship means from the perspective of citizens who are active within third sector organisations. It is based on an empirical study involving 1,610 respondents across 11 towns in six countries. The study explored how active citizenship is manifested, by gathering data on attitudes towards social changes and the forms and practices of active citizenship. There are two major, and apparently contradictory themes emerging in the data. The first theme provides a portrait of active engagement, proactively, and sometimes oppositionally working for a better world. On the other hand, citizens by and large avoid active oppositional engagement in the political process. They prefer to work collaboratively with government and to work at the local level. This second theme can be understood as social maintenance, support for existing structures that facilitates community cohesion, while providing relief for the disadvantaged, often with a conservative charity or welfare orientation. Following the work of Touraine, the study revealed how citizens act at the local rather than the national level, and focus on concrete issues and interpersonal relations rather than political action aimed at wider policy change. While this form of citizenship action can reflect a conservative form of maintenance, it is equally a creative new form of association and mutual support.

Keywords

Active citizenshipthird sector organisationssocial engagement
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 55 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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