Marshall and Dahrendorf: theories of citizenship 1945-2022

Abstract

ABSTRACT The development of citizenship studies and changes in citizenship is examined between 1945 and 2022 with special reference to Britain. Although the idea of citizenship was established as early as Greek political thought, the development of citizenship based on a welfare state starts in Britain with post-war legislation on education, health, and welfare. The early sociology of citizenship was the work of T. H. Marshall in Britain and Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf in Germany. These two sociologists established a vocabulary and research agenda that has remained influential including basic concepts such as social citizenship, civility, life chances, and public cultures. The post-war settlement in Britain that involved a strategy for the reform of capitalism began to come apart during the Thatcher Years (1979–1990) in which neo-liberalism became the dominant political-economic paradigm. This period saw the creation of ‘casino capitalism’, the erosion of the welfare state or in Thatcher’s words ‘the Nanny State’. Whereas citizenship in the twentieth century was based on notions of sameness and solidarity, citizenship studies have to address increasing social and cultural diversity, a global refugee crisis, the relationship between social and human rights, a demographic crisis, and above all the erosion of citizenship.