Citizens Towards a Citizenship Culture

9780631228561

063122856X

The author of In Defence of Politics, George Orwell: a Life and chair of the official 1998 report on Teaching Citizenship and Democracy in Schools, has gathered together a distinguished team of thinkers and writers for the annual Political Quarterly book. Like the PQ, the book uses expert knowledge but is written for the intelligent general reader. Each of the contributors seek to show how a particular institution can contribute to create a radically more participative culture - one where people think of themselves not just as law-abiding citizens, tax-payers or enterprising individuals, but a s active citizens. The essays are not concerned with the immediate short-term perspective to make Britain a Citizenship culture, but with middle and long-term perspectives. The question is posed that if the old democratic socialist project seems either halted, stilted or abandoned, how can we at least, possibly at best, achieve a truly democratic and inclusive society - a culture of positive citizenship? The inquiry and advocacy ranges through institutions of government, the parties, parliament, problems of multi-culturalism, the practices of the voluntary sector, education and the arts