Wealth, Citizenship and Responsibility: The Views of “Better Off” Citizens in the UK

Author: ORTON, MICHAEL

Source: Citizenship Studies, Volume 10, Number 2, May 2006 , pp. 251-265(15)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The retheorisation of citizenship since the 1980s has been marked by an emphasis on responsibility over rights, and a focus on poor citizens. The article discusses why an interest in wealthy citizens is timely, including the argument in the UK that the citizenship responsibilities of those with high incomes should be expressed through the notion of active citizenship, not solely by paying tax. Findings are presented from empirical research in the UK, based on in-depth interviews with better off citizens. It is argued that wealthy citizens have benefited from a reduced obligation to pay taxation but there has not been a corresponding acceptance of active citizenship. Moreover, respondents' actual engagement with active citizenship and the expression of responsibility through an essentially individual ethos of economic independence promote a conception of citizenship that is exclusionary rather than inclusive. The research does not lead to an argument for the diminution of citizenship responsibility, but that there is a need for greater interest in the position of wealthy, not just poor, citizens.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13621020600633218

Affiliations: 1: University of Warwick, Institute for Employment Research, Coventry, UK

Publication date: 2006-05-01

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