State versus Market – Public versus Private: the Concept of Citizenship Among Dutch Students

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present – using both theoretical analyses and empirical data – new forms of “privatised” citizenship, based on individual competence and the development of post-national forms of affiliation. These new constructions of citizenship are marked by ambiguity. There is a definitely positive impact of individualism and self-fulfilment on the development of the idea of active citizenship. At the same time a negative influence of the privatisation of the social sphere becomes visible. It is the emergence of a new category of citizenship, i.e. post-democratic citizenship, which reduces political citizenship participation to being a television and internet consumer of opinions and a spectator of a political show. The above considerations are conducted with reference to a constructive and imperative paradigm, based on the conviction that citizenship is a social construction – contested and reconstructed both geographically and historically. The article uses excerpts from the in-depth interviews (IDI) conducted with Dutch students in May 2011 within a broader research project focusing on the comparison of the social construction of citizenship among Dutch and German students.