Citizenship Studies Research Articles

(Re)shaping politics: displaced people from Ukraine in Prague, political subjectivities, and solidarity relations

ABSTRACT When migrants and displaced people make claims about their rights to be political and become acting political subjects, they challenge conventional notions of political and political communities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Prague with Ukrainian citizens displaced by the 2022 Russian invasion, this article brings into conversation critical citizenship studies and literature on solidarity with refugees to explore the political acts of displaced Ukrainians and the solidarity practices of local activists. By doing so, the article focuses on the intricate transformations that (re)shape politics in terms of new subjectivities and social relations. When displaced people from Ukraine disrupted presumptions about their political invisibility and formed synergetic solidarity relations with local activists, their actions made new ways of relating and caring possible. This further transformed their political subjectivities from claimants of rights to Czech society (and its institutions) to claimants of rights within Czech society.

SexWork.DK: a comparative study of citizenship and working hours among sex workers in Denmark

ABSTRACT Sex workers in Europe are increasingly of nonnational origin. The Schengen cooperation allows internal migration within the European Union, but many migrant sex workers originate from outside the EU. While sex workers are already in precarious positions, nonnationals risk deportation, dependent on their citizenship status, and may have debts to smugglers. Consequently, they may be more likely to work longer hours to increase short-term profits. Using a dataset of sex work advertisements from one Danish website (n = 2,594), we estimate the association between inferred citizenship status and a) advertised hours on shift using ordinary least squares regression, and b) the probability of advertising 24/7 availability using a linear probability model. Compared to Danish sex workers, we find migrants advertise almost twice as many hours on shift and are more likely to advertise 24/7 availability. These results shed light on the inequalities that persist between national and nonnational sex workers.

Hierarchy in the Politics of Migration: Revisiting Race, Ethnicity, and Power in the Migration State

Migrants and refugees face hostile publics and organized political interests, and contend with new and evolving forms of surveillance, deportability, and political violence. Researchers show that these political dynamics are fundamentally shaped by the politics of race and ethnicity. Yet, even as this work is increasingly abundant, it has not always been taken up by mainstream accounts of migration. In this article, we revisit scholarship on the politics of international migration, bringing together a collection of — sometimes disparate — research to explore how scholars can forge new lines of inquiry regarding the relationship between migration, race, ethnicity, and power. To do so, we evaluate three types of relationships at the core of migration politics: the relationship between migration and the state, the migration-related demands of domestic publics on the state, and how migrants interact and contend with the state. Across these relationships, we examine how ethnoracial hierarchies draw on, legitimize, and reinforce uneven distributions of political power, disparate deployments of state action and violence, and projects of nation- and state-building. Combining the intellectual prowess of distinct fields and approaches, we draw on productive convergences and tensions between existing and emerging frameworks and analytic starting points across disciplines to map future research trajectories in the multidisciplinary study of immigration, citizenship, asylum, and racial and ethnic politics. We conclude with a note on the politics of knowledge production–whereby some accounts of migration have been privileged over others–and point to important epistemological and methodological interventions for advancing research on the politics of migration.

When Freedom of Speech and Neofeudalistic Buzzers Collide: A Note for the Politics of Citizenship

The term “buzzer” was initially employed in business marketing to promote a product or service by initiating a broader discourse and increasing popularity and sales. However, the function of buzzers has evolved from business to politics, where they are utilized by politicians for political campaigns and maintaining power. This article endeavors to propose a novel concept for contemporary Indonesian political buzzers. The new concept is introduced with the term “Neofeudalistic Buzzers.” The term “Neofeudalistic” is derived from the characteristics of the actions of political buzzers who attack critics of the government and its officials, which resembles the practice of feudalism in the era of precapitalism. This conceptual article has identified that the use of buzzers in Indonesian politics has become a significant propaganda tool. Furthermore, it has been found that government-supporting buzzers are often involved in intimidating government critics. The actions of government-supporting buzzers can discredit freedom of speech and create fear among people who are critical of the government. Theoretically, neofeudalistic buzzers add a new vocabulary to the politics of citizenship studies. Meanwhile, neofeudalistic buzzers can provide practical insights for policymakers and democracy activists to regulate and supervise the activities of political buzzers.

QAnon and the Epistemic Communities of the Unreal: A Conceptual Toolkit for a Sociology of Grassroots Conspiracism

The messy politics of combating the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the confusion caused by the global (dis)infodemic, have propelled conspiracism from the fringes of society into the public mainstream. Despite the growing political impact of digitally enabled conspiracy theories, they are predominantly delegitimized on three fronts – as psychopathology, pseudoscience, and/or parapolitics. In contrast, this article employs three non-pathologizing conceptual counteroffers borrowed from critical theory, deconstructionist historiography, and citizenship studies – namely, cognitive mapping, narrative emplotment, and performative citizenship – to politicize conspiracy theorizing ‘from below’. Using QAnon as a case-in-point, the article introduces two novel concepts that invite a sociological approach to conspiracism: first, the epistemic communities of the unreal, which designates the participatory, interactive, and decentralized nature of collaboratively creating unreal explanations of the real world; and second, grassroots conspiracism, which denotes the ways in which these bottom-up, horizontal, and collective meaning-making practices and knowledge-production processes are expanding spaces of and for politics.

Testing the simple model of environmental citizenship in a sample of adolescents

Environmental citizenship and education for environmental citizenship have been identified as important areas to address, yet there is no simple way of studying either environmental citizenship or how effective is the education for it. In order to address this gap in the literature and to provide a practical model for future studies of environmental citizenship, especially in educational contexts, a Simple Model of Environmental Citizenship (SMEC), consisting of environmental (self-)education, abstract and concrete environmental knowledge, environmental awareness, pro-environmental attitudes, need for learning about environmental issues, need for environmental action, environmental literacy, and environmental citizenship was tested in a sample of adolescents. The objective of the study is to test the SMEC in a sample of adolescents in order to investigate its structure and functioning. The current sample consists of 236 adolescents from two schools in Lithuania recruited through convenience sampling. Structural equation modelling with DWLS estimation was used to test the SMEC. The SMEC, after small adjustments that are consistent with previous research, fit the data well. The SMEC provides a good starting point for future interventional and longitudinal studies with adolescents as well as other age groups.

Material energy citizenship through participation in citizen-financed photovoltaic projects

BackgroundCitizens are recognized as key actors in the energy system’s transformation by assuming novel roles beyond being mere energy consumers. Participation in renewable energy projects increases societal support and renders the decarbonization of the energy system more inclusive. Increasing numbers of citizen-financed photovoltaic (CiFi PV) projects exemplify this. Empirical studies on individuals who participate in CiFi PV, their perceived role(s), and their motivations, however, are scarce. This study addresses this gap through the lens of energy citizenship by analyzing individual participation.MethodsThe study surveyed CiFi PV participants across five projects in Switzerland (N = 510). After a comparison of the participants’ characteristics to the general public and a descriptive analysis of the perceived roles to participate, the study explores the individual motivations of participants. To that end, a motivational attributes scale, including finance, environment, local value creation, and symbolism, was adapted from a previous study. A hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to analyze which motivational attributes predict participants’ willingness to participate in future CiFi PV projects.ResultsWhile participants were primarily male, more affluent, better educated and politically more left-leaning than the average Swiss population, participants covered a wide range of sociodemographic characteristics and worldviews. Though CiFi PV is primarily marketed toward tenants, half of the participants were homeowners. Participants perceived themselves as energy citizens contributing to the energy transition and environmental preservation rather than as investors or energy producers. The regression analysis shows that motivations are relevant in explaining willingness to participate in future CiFi PV projects. We found that environmental, financial and local value creation-related motivational attributes are highly significant predictors, as well as slightly less significant symbolic attributes.ConclusionsThese results suggest that CiFi PV projects represent a material form of energy citizenship going beyond mere consumerism by enabling individuals to contribute to the energy transition. Given their capacity to engage diverse publics, policymakers should endorse projects emphasizing individual participation alongside non-commercial community-based models. This would require their integration into existing regulatory frameworks. Future energy citizenship studies should further explore how individuals perceive and conceptualize what it means to be an energy citizen.

Fighting for Space Within the Cis‐ and Heteronormative Public Sphere: An Analysis of Budapest Pride

The article presents the urban space use of the LGBTQI+ community in a post‐socialist and illiberal country, Hungary, by focusing on the historical development of Pride marches within the capital. Examining these events’ routes, current regulations, and resistance related to Pride, the article observes acts of silencing and the disruption of silencing concerning the LGBTQI+ community. First, we rely on sexual and intimate citizenship studies (e.g., Plummer, 2003; Richardson, 2017) to highlight the public/private divide and related (in)visibility and human rights issues associated with the LGBTQI+ community within a cis‐ and heteronormative environment. Second, queer geography and the geography of sexualities are used to better understand the cis‐ and heteronormative environment within which sexual and gender minorities exist and operate. Regarding the Hungarian context, we assume that “a gradual extension of public space use” is present concerning the public events of the LGBTQI+ community in Hungary (Takács, 2014, p. 202). The article analyzes three aspects concerning the Pride parades held in Budapest through the 3R analytical lens and connected silencing and the disruption of silencing: the spatial routes of the Budapest Pride, related regulations, and the resistance to and of LGBTQI+ visibility in an urban setting. First, through maps, we visualize the routes of the Budapest Pride parades from 1997 to 2022 to understand how the visibility of LGBTQI+ and allies is constricted and regulated in the spatial dimension. Second, following the regulatory approach of the Budapest Pride organization, we focus on how the police ensure these events’ and attendees’ safety and whether cordons—physical symbols of division between participants, police, and bystanders or protesters—are necessary. The third aspect elucidates the resistance against and toward the visibility of LGBTQI+ people in the urban setting.

La ciudadanía digital: metaanálisis sobre investigaciones en México

The present study was a meta-analysis compiling research on digital citizenship conducted in Mexico in 2011 - 2023. It was guided by the objective of arguing, analyzing and categorizing the lines of knowledge generation and application (LGAC) related to digital citizenship in Mexico. The methodology applied was meta-analysis where 88 research studies were documented: 47 papers, 33 journal articles and 8 theses. The studies found support the existence of six LGAC in Mexico. It was concluded that the studies are related to understanding the way in which society appropriates digital technologies, interactions through social networks and the manifestations of digital identity. Another point to highlight is that the study of digital citizenship has been used to analyze the acquisition of digital skills and attitudes, social issues addressed by digitalization, the roles played by educational actors in the virtual environment and the promotion of multiculturalism. The studies found provide relevance to the LGAC, and allow concluding that digital citizenship is a topic present in research on educational technology in Mexico.

Student Overview of the Pancasila and Citizenship Education Study Program: Understanding Pancasila, Social Participation, and Perception as Agents of Change

Higher education plays an important role in shaping student attitudes and personalities as drivers of social change. Although Pancasila is regarded as a moral and ethical guideline, students often face difficulties in applying these values in everyday life. The aim of this study is to evaluate students' understanding of Pancasila, their involvement in social change, and the way they see the challenge in the role of students as agents of change based on Pancasila. The study used a survey method with the population of Students of the Pancasila Education and Citizenship Studies Program at one of the Universities in Papua Province. Most respondents believe that Pancasila serves as a legal foundation and as a moral guideline; (2) the majority of respondents in this study are still engaged in social change movements or activities in the community and on campus, as well as showing strong commitment and awareness in building a better society; (3) raising public Awareness about Pancasil's policies is the main way respondents overcome difficulties in carrying out their duties as agents of change based on Pancasila. Educational institutions should care and support respondents in carrying out their duties as agents of change based on Pancasila.

Understanding the impact on children’s citizenship of participating in community-based action research

ABSTRACT This paper explores the lived experience of citizenship of working-class girls from a marginalised ex-mining town in northern England engaged as community researchers in participatory action research. The research aimed to better understand the relationships within their local community. Qualitative methods were used to examine the girls’ experience of the research and its impact on their sense of community, which is discussed using the lens of ‘lived citizenship’ (Kallio et al. 2020). We conclude that children’s experience of participatory research approaches can be understood as subjective or lived citizenship. This contributes to understanding how they perceived their acts of citizenship, particularly in relation to others in their community. Supporting the international literature on subjectivity in citizenship studies and the critical appreciation of intersectionality in in participatory research, this paper demonstrates how such involvement can lead to positive subjective outcomes in groups experiencing marginalisation, such as working-class girls.

Within, beyond, and after citizenship: the interplay between visibility and invisibility among migrants in Patras

ABSTRACT Drawing upon empirical research conducted in Patras in 2015, this paper investigates the multiplicity of visible and invisible practices migrants have employed to challenge, negotiate, or evade the pervasive border regime and (attempt to) claim their freedom of settlement and movement. The paper will make two interrelated contributions. Theoretically, it will critically explore the concepts of ‘acts of citizenship’ and ‘imperceptible politics’ through the lens of visibility to analyse the nuances and differences between them and reinstate their importance in capturing the vitality of migrants’ agency. Empirically, the paper will investigate the interplay of visibility and invisibility both in the development of the European and national border regimes and in the fragmented formation process of a migrant political subjectivity. In capturing and analysing the ever-changing development of migrants’ movements and struggles, as well as their multiple ways of being political through visibility and invisibility within, beyond, and after citizenship, the paper contributes to the ongoing dialogue between two broader bodies of work: Critical Citizenship Studies and Autonomy of Migration.

Non-Belonging: borders, boundaries, and bodies at the interface of migration and citizenship studies

ABSTRACT Non-belonging is an undertheorized current in work on migration and citizenship, too often understood as simply the absence of belonging. We define non-belonging as an actively constructed space and logic that entails the denial of personhood, where personhood captures one’s sense of self, one’s capacity to act, as well as the human and citizenship rights tied to this. We suggest that distinct processes interact to foster spaces and logics of non-belonging: (1) bordering through state practices; and (2) boundary formations through representation, with (3) both of these inscribed on bodies. We illustrate our framework through the example of a legal case regarding the repatriation of Dutch women who joined the Islamic State. We also apply our framework to examples from our previous research on Muslim masculinities in Canada and Germany and Turkish mothers in Berlin who circumvent immigrant stigma by sending their children to international schools to show the framework’s utility in analyzing non-belonging writ large.

The nomos of citizenship: migrant rights, law and the possibility of justice

Superficially, citizenship appears relatively simple: a legal status denoting political membership. However, critical citizenship studies scholars suggest that citizenship is first and foremost a political practice. When non-citizens, such as irregularised migrants, constitute themselves as citizens through their actions, irrespective of legal status, these practices of citizenship have transformational potential because they are extra-legal. Yet, there is an ambivalence here: rights-claiming migrants tend to frame their key demands within the terms of the law often by calling for the regularisation of their status. This article addresses this ambivalence by adopting a ‘deconstructive method’ to investigate the legal dimensions of citizenship as sites of theoretical and political intervention. It is argued that practices of rights-claiming by irregularised migrants are important to grasp because they mobilise the paradoxes inherent to the fact that universal rights are enshrined in the constitutional texts of modern citizenship in order to generate new legal meanings and horizons of justice. This hypothesis is explored through a series of illustrative examples of rights-claiming taking place within and beyond the formal confines of legal orders. In so doing, the article sets out a novel conceptual framework for analysing how migrants’ claims to justice strategically negotiate citizenship in its legal form.

Ethnic Return Migrants in Korea and Japan: A Comparative Study of Nationalism and Citizenship

Abstract: This study explores the complicated nature of the citizenship of ethnic return migrants from Japan and Korea, Nikkeijin and Joseonjok. It aims to contribute to the scholarship by demonstrating that racism and nationalism are layered concepts by examining the reasons why Nikkeijin and Joseonjok enjoy preferential treatment to some extent but at the same time become targets of discrimination in Korea and Japan. I draw on Christian Joppke's position that citizenship is composed not only of legal status but also of social and identity elements and utilize two relatively novel concepts that shed new light on the complex nature of Nikkeijin and Joseonjok citizenship. One is Takeyuki Tsuda's concept of ethnoracism, which helps capture the type of racism aimed at groups that are not racially distinct but whose ostensible background differences are essentialized as inferior. The other is Gil-Soo Han's nouveau-riche nationalism, which argues that migrants are evaluated according to the global and developmental status of their country of origin. This comparative analysis helps demonstrate how the lives of Joseonjok and Nikkeijin are shaped by multiple layers of nationalism, racism, and status perceptions in their respective countries of residence.

An Analysis of Civic Education Students’ Perception Toward Their Needs in Learning English for Specific Purpose in University of Mataram

This study, aim to examine civic students’ necessities, lacks, and wants in learning English & Analyze civic students’ perception toward the ESP program in fulfilling their lacks and wants in learning English. This research descriptive qualitative researcher. The population of this study was 160 of civic education students ‘who were studying in University Of Mataram academic year 2021-2022. The number of samples used was 30 students who were taken using purposive sampling techniques. In gathering the data, this study used a questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire consists of questions related to demographic information, necessities, wants, lacks, and perceptions toward the English program in fulfilling the students' wants. Meanwhile, a semi-structured interview was used to strengthen the data from the questionnaire. The research data show that civic education students needed English to pass the TOEFL exam, which 43.3% did, followed by learning it for future careers, which accounted for 40% of their responses. Furthermore, most of the students wanted to be able to master vocabulary in English related to citizenship studies, listen to speeches and other spoken resources in English, write civic documents in English, and be able to read English civic documents at the end of the English course. Furthermore, it was discovered that the majority of them lacked speaking and listening skills. In terms of student perception, it was discovered that civic education students perceived the English program as fulfilling their wants because they were provided with learning techniques to satisfy their wants and lacks

Political media use, civic knowledge, civic self-efficacy, and gender: measuring active citizenship in Turkey

Despite many extensive and fruitful studies, assessing and analysing active citizenship behaviours in various cultural contexts remains a topic of research interest. A significant proportion of citizenship studies rely on evidence from adolescents, with their expected participation as the dependent variable rather than the actual civic engagement of adults. Prior research has also neglected to examine the internal civic self-efficacy of adult citizens, particularly concerning gender differences. Based on new data obtained from 731 Turkish citizens over eighteen, this study examines the effects of political media use, civic knowledge, civic self-efficacy, and gender, along with other demographic variables, on civic engagement and participation. We investigate research evidence that women’s tendency to interest in unconventional activities at a higher rate than men would make a difference and enhance their civic self-efficacy. Findings indicate that, at the empirical level, active citizenship is a multidimensional and interrelated concept with dimensions of civic knowledge, civic self-efficacy, engagement, and participation. Civic self-efficacy was found to be a psychological construct that predicts adult citizens’ active citizenship behaviours. Contrary to our hypothesis, gender differences in civic self-efficacy in community engagement closely related to daily life remain present, although women are expected to prefer greater participation than men. Only education indicated some equalising effect. Based on our findings, we suggest that research on citizenship should consider not only whether society values what women do, but also whether it promotes what they value.

Making Whiteness and the Racialisation of Australian Youth Citizenship

ABSTRACT Rather than apprehending race or ethnicity as a predetermined social fact that then informs young people’s experiences of engagement or inclusion, youth citizenship studies would benefit from more critical perspectives that enable investigation of the racialised construction of what is legible as civic participation or national belonging. Processes of racialisation operate in the production of youth as citizen-subjects in Australian nation-making through approaches in youth policy and research that simultaneously centre and invisibilise whiteness. This paper considers the role of racialisation in ways of knowing and regulating Australian youth as citizens through a critical review of the ways different groups of young people become meaningful and knowable as racialised citizens. It explores the representation and constitution of Indigenous, ethnic minority and white youth citizenship in youth research and policy as in turn non-existent/provisional, integrative/integratable, and vulnerable/healthy, to contribute to deepened understandings of the social construction of youth in the service of white nation-making.

Civic Engagement through the Sendi Indigenous People in Realizing Ecological Citizenship in Overcoming the Impacts of Climate Change Based on Local Wisdom

Climate change is one of the studies of contemporary global citizenship caused by poor environmental management and has no ethics to be a topic of discussion of all world leaders who need to get immediate treatment with the involvement of citizens. The Sendi Indigenous Community as one of the comunnity civics has a significant role in overcoming the impact of climate change that occurs in the area of Mount Welirang and Arjuno which is based on its local wisdom. The purpose of this research is to analyze the form of civic engagement of Sendi Indigenous People in overcoming the impact of climate change that occurs based on their local wisdom. This research uses qualitative research methods with a case study design and data collected using interview techniques, documentation, and observation which are then tested for validity using triangulation techniques to obtain valid data and in accordance with reality. Data were analyzed using an interactive model, namely data condensation, data presentation, conclusion drawing and data verification. The conclusion of this research is that the Sendi Indigenous People has a form of citizen involvement in the form of adaptation and mitigation in dealing with the impacts of climate change oriented towards sustainable agriculture and the use of agroforestry concepts in land management and settlements.

Reflecting on the boundaries of the demos: A virtual deliberative experiment with German citizens

AbstractThis article combines the fields of deliberative theory and citizenship studies. Drawing from a deliberative experiment on foreigner political rights with almost 300 German citizens, we find that a short virtual deliberative treatment produced a clarification effect, whereby especially those with already negative views increased their scepticism. Participants in our deliberative treatment displayed higher levels of argument repertoire and integrative complexity, underlining that the treatment led to well‐considered opinions. A qualitative analysis of participants’ substantive rationales unravels traces of what De Schutter and Ypi dub ‘mandatory citizenship’, implying that political rights must be attached to obligations. These results have wide ranging implications: They indicate that the practice of deliberation is not quasi‐automatically programmed to progressive outcomes (as some have argued) but can have a communitarian dimension (where preferences are determined on the basis of existing communal values and self‐understandings); this suggests that participatory practices may not always advance progressive reforms.