Engaged Citizenship Norms

The meaning of citizenship as a concept varies significantly for each individual-this meaning is directly influenced by factors such as age, ideological beliefs and socioeconomic class. Due to this difference in perspective it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what citizenship entails concerning the balance between the freedoms that we experience as citizens and the responsibilities that we must each fulfill in order for a democracy to function with stability and efficiency. This has become an issue in modern society as some citizens (particularly those in the millennial cohort) shrug off traditional duty based citizenship norms such as voting in elections, paying income taxes and obeying the law- for more “engaged” forms of participation such

as protesting, boycotting ethically questionable institutions and participating in volunteer service. It is not the case that either of these sets of behaviors are more or less important than the other, but instead that duty based norms and engagement based norms use different means of involvement to achieve similar outcomes. While older cohorts view millennials as uninformed, apathetic, and uninvolved, not all characteristics of millennial generation citizens are negative- in reality, today’s youth is more educated, tolerant and socially conscious than any other generation in history. These generational differences become apparent when observing the ways that different age groups participate in democracy and are responsible for the existing disconnect between the older generation which continues to practice traditional duty-based citizenship norms, and the younger generation which is experiencing a shift to modern “engaged” citizenship.
While the engaged citizenship model differs from the traditional duty-based model in principle, organization and strategy, both duty-oriented and engaged citizenship norms serve to accomplish a similar goal: to take part in the political process and influence public policy.

Those that identify with duty-based citizenship norms are more likely to participate in traditional electoral style political behaviors such as paying income taxes, voting in elections, or serving in the armed forces- historically, this has been the most prevalent form of citizen involvement in politics. In recent years there has been a shift in focus among the younger generation from conventional duty based citizenship norms to a more involved, hands-on form of participation described as engaged citizenship. Those that identify with the engaged citizen model may still participate in electoral politics but are more likely to involve themselves through behaviors such as volunteer work, protesting unethical public entities and directly contacting public officials about issues that concern them. Duty based citizens differ from engaged citizens not only in the ways that they involve themselves politically, but also in the types of issues that they tend to focus on- for example, while duty-based citizens are more likely to focus on issues of the administrative, regulatory and fiscal variety, engaged citizens tend to focus on social, cultural and humanitarian issues. It could be argued that the duty-based model

represents the ‘informed citizen’ whereas the engagement-based model represents the ‘involved citizen.’
Both duty based and engaged citizenship norms are important to the process of democracy- however not in the same manner nor to the same extent. This is why it is vitally important that duty based and engagement-based citizenship norms must be practiced in conjunction with one another to be truly effective in the modern era. The younger generation remains severely underrepresented in politics due in part to the tendency of politicians to address the issues deemed important to voters, instead of their constituency as a whole. Despite the fact that they are more likely to participate in activities such as volunteering, participating in protests or voicing political opinions on social media, the issues concerning young adults are often ignored because they are less likely to vote, making them a less important demographic in the eyes of politicians. In this sense, duty based citizenship may have more of an impact than engaged citizenship in some cases- young people are free to participate in engaged citizenship behaviors as they see fit but the unfortunate reality is that if young people are not voting, politicians are not paying attention to them. If voting rates among young adults were to increase politicians would quickly see the importance of properly representing our nation’s youth. In an ideal democracy, politicians would address the concerns of each member of their constituency equally without regard for electoral support- in reality politicians are public servants- many of which do have the best interests of their constituents in mind- yet first and foremost the goal of a politician is to be reelected. It is for this reason that duty based political behaviors and engaged behaviors must be practiced together to be truly effective; while engaged citizenship norms are effective at raising concern amongst the general public, these actions are often ignored by lawmakers as they typically benefit more from direct electoral participation. Practicing both duty-based and engaged political behaviors insures not only that the voices of the millennial generation are heard, but also that America’s youth is properly represented.
In his book The Good Citizen, Russell Dalton defines citizenship as “a shared set of expectations about the citizen’s role in politics.” This course has given me a better appreciation for the importance of engaged citizenship and the role that engaged citizens fulfill in the political process.

However, through this course I have also come to recognize that due to the negative perception that is placed on our generation, the political objectives of young people will likely never be given adequate consideration by public officials should we continue to practice engaged citizenship while disregarding electoral participation. My personal definition of citizenship is recognizing the privileges we have as citizens of the United States and contributing to one’s community in whatever way they are able to do so. A responsible citizen is not simply an observer of the political process, but rather an informed

participant.