Young People, Citizenship and the Third Way: A Role for the Youth Service?

Abstract

Citizenship is best understood as signifying a field of struggle: an arena in which relations linking individuals to their wider community, social and political contexts are continually discussed, reworked and contested. This paper explores the current preoccupation with citizenship in Britain, and relates this specifically to the challenges this presents for the youth service. The idea of active citizenship, first promulgated by the Conservative government in its attempt to mitigate the then triumphal New Right ethic of individual self-interest, has been seized on by the new Labour government as a central component of 'Third Way' politics-as a means of renewing civil society. How this may be communicated to, and engendered in young people remains, however, as contested an issue as the idea of citizenship itself. The 'tacit learning' for citizenship which takes place within youth work practice holds much promise, but for exactly this reason is also problematic because it cannot demonstrably project outcomes which are clearly formulated and measurable.