19
Chapter
ISSUES: Citizenship
Chapter 2: Active citizenship
Active citizenship
2
What does it mean to be a citizen?
T
he question of what does it
mean to be a citizen has no
simple answer. On a purely
definition-based description, what it
means to be a citizen is that a person
is a legally recognised inhabitant of
the country they live in – in the UK,
this means they pay taxes and are
entitled to the help of the benefits and
NHS systems. However, in practice,
answering the question what does it
mean to be a citizen is far from easy. As
new rules and tests for people wanting
British citizenship show, being a citizen
is about far more than a legal status. It
is about understanding and accepting
– and being a part of the culture, rather
than an observer from the outside.
Understanding
Cultures are complex things to get
a handle on. Depending on how
different one person’s home culture is
to another’s, theremay be huge gaps in
understanding of each other’s cultures.
To truly be a citizen of a country, the
person must fully understand its
culture. This does not necessarily
mean that person must blindly agree
with the ways of doing things – but an
understanding of how and why things
happen is vital. In fact, the greater
their understanding of a culture, the
more people – citizens – may want to
question it. But in many ways, this is
human nature at work. And, if a deeper
understanding of the culture leads to
a deeper dissatisfaction of the way
things are done, then so be it. A right
to protest and the act of protesting
are all signs that a person is a citizen in
the truest sense of the word – because
they understand the culture and,
although they disagree with things,
they are involved enough to want to
make a change, hopefully, for what
they believe to be the greater good.
Accepting
But protestors who have the country’s
best interests at heart – and moreover
those of the people who live in it –
must take care not to damage the
culture or the country. And in that
way, they must be accepting of the
culture. For example, a person in
the UK who was anti-monarchy may
set up petitions and hold organised
and peaceful protests calling for its
abolition. This is their right, and one
would hope that in line with their
views, what they would like to see
happen. However, a non-peaceful
protest against the monarchy would
not be a good citizen’s way of doing
things – as it does show an acceptance
of the culture, and, moreover could be
harmful to the people who live there.
Being a part of a culture
To truly be able to answer the question
of what does it mean to be a citizen,
a person must become part of their
culture and part of their community.
This is why there is now an English
language requirement for new citizens
of the UK. Not speaking the language
the other people in your community
and culture speak is a major hindrance
to becoming a true citizen – with
regards to being part of the culture.
Being part of the culture though
goes much further than this. It is
about integration with others, about
bringing your views and experiences
to the table and sharing them to make
the whole culture richer from the
experience of everyone in it. It can
be about having a public service job,
about volunteering and about giving
back. It is about working together for
the greater good.
And therein lies the eternal answer
to what does it mean to be a citizen.
Legally, a citizen is someone who
has the required passport, a piece of
paper. But truly, a citizen is someone
who shares with their communities
and who gives back what they take
out. Make no mistake, there are plenty
of people in the UK who were born
here but could not be said to be true
citizens – it is about an emotional
state and mindset just as much as a
geographical and legal term.
13 November 2014
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The above information is reprinted
with
kind
permission
from
Responsible Citizen. Please visit
for
further information.
© Responsible Citizen 2017
Previous nationalities granted citizenship
The chart below shows the top five nationalities granted citizenship.
(Total number of grants in 2015–118,053)
18,399
13,090
8,069
4,788
3,763
India
Pakistan
Nigeria
South Africa
Poland
Source: National Statistics, Citizenship, May 2016
