Who Belongs

Competing Conceptions of Political Membership

Bibliographic Data

ID2398523
AuthorsElaine R Thomas (0000-0002-8737-4819, BARD COLLEGE, NEW YORK, USA, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume5
Issue3
Pages323-349
Publication date2002-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136843102760513938
OpenAlexW2163488037
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited51

This article presents a new set of analytical tools for understanding competing conceptions of political membership. Controversies concerning nationality and citizenship are often seen as products of conflict between 'civic' and 'ethnic' visions. However, the conceptual roots of current discussions and disagreements about political membership are actually more complicated than this might suggest. After examining the dichotomy of civic and ethnic and its limitations, this article identifies five competing ways of understanding the meaning of belonging to, or being a citizen of, a given polity. Political membership may be understood and discussed as a matter of descent from common biological ancestors, cultural attachment, or identification with particular political principles. Alternatively, it may also be imagined either as an exchange of rights for duties or as a benefit granted to those contributing materially to the community. Each of these conceptions figures significantly in current political and intellectual discussions of citizenship and nationality. The typology may also prove applicable to new kinds of debates about global citizenship

Citizenship · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Immigration · Nationality · Political science · Politics · Polity · Social science · Sociology · Typology · Vision · Anthropology · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Religious Education and Schools

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub