- What is citizenship?
- Importance of citizenship
- citizenship examples
- Active and passive citizenship
- digital citizenship
- Characteristics of a good citizen
We explain what citizenship is, how it manifests itself and what a good citizen is like. In addition, we tell you what digital citizenship is.
What is citizenship?
Citizenship is the condition of legal, social and cultural belonging of an individual to a community organized, such as country or one city.
This is a widely used term in the law and in the sociology, from the Latin word civil, with which in Ancient Rome free men were designated, endowed with rights and obligations against the State, unlike foreigners (pilgrimage) and slaves (servi). Thus, those who failed to comply with their fundamental obligations could lose their status as citizens as punishment.
Today the term is used citizenship to name both the condition of being a citizen of some country, that is, to be recognized as an active member of said nation, endowed with rights and duties before the law; as well as all the citizens that make up a city or a nation (“The law was repealed due to the protests of the citizenship", for instance).
along the history, the requirements to be considered a citizen have changed enormously from one town to another and from one time to another. Currently, the notion of citizenship is closely linked to that of nationality, that is, to the legal and formal relationship of belonging that one has with respect to one country or another.
Thus, for example, when speaking of "European citizenship", reference is made to European nationality, that is, to the identity of those who were born in Europe or who, according to European law, legally have the identity of said place.
However, there are other uses of the term citizenship that are less descriptive, that is, they refer to the link that citizens exercise with respect to public affairs (public res): how responsible they are, how obedient to the law, how concerned they are about the designs of the country, among other aspects.
According to this point of view, citizenship would be the degree of community integration and proactivity in the defense of common issues that a human group exhibits. In this sense, one usually speaks of “doing citizenship” (in the same sense of “doing homeland”, that is, contributing to the general welfare of the national community).
In short, and as proposed by the British sociologist Thomas Marshall (1893-1981) in his book Citizenship and social classes , citizenship manifests itself in three different dimensions:
- In belonging to a community that gives the individual a feeling of collective identity.
- In the capacity of said individual to take an active part in political decisions and to be a decisive agent of the destiny of the community.
- In the legal status that said condition grants and of which the citizenship documents (such as the DNI or the passport) are a reflection.
Importance of citizenship
citizenship is a concept essential for life in society, since it is linked to the exercise of rights and the responsibility before homework. The citizens of a nation enjoy the protection of the law, for example, but they are also subject to it in matters of collective welfare.
This is due to social contract, the tacit agreement that governs life in society, in which certain freedoms (the so-called “state of nature”) in exchange for security, belonging and order.
Therefore, citizenship is much more than a legal identification document: it is a way of belonging to an organized group. This is why, throughout history, many minorities they fought to enlarge the current notion of citizenship, from which they were totally excluded, and to be able to count on rights and freedoms themselves.
citizenship examples
Some ways to exercise citizenship are:
- Participate in national or regional voting, to elect political authorities, decide in referendums and be part of the decision making from the country.
- Identify yourself with the national documents in which your own citizenship is stated, when traveling abroad.
- Comply with the laws tax of our country, that is, to pay taxes to finance the Condition and help those most in need.
- Go to assemblies and councils to inform us about the discussions that occur in our community.
Active and passive citizenship
The distinction between active citizenship and passive citizenship has to do with the degree of commitment that the individual, a group or a organization assume in the face of the community and the resolution of the needs of the wellness collective.
Thus, an active citizenship refers to the stake enthusiastic, responsible and with initiative in those matters that refer to the common benefit; while passive citizenship is one that is content to exercise its individual rights and is involved as little as possible in the conduct of society.
For example, one business he can perfectly meet the minimum required, pay his taxes and ignore the rest of the needs of the community in which he is a part and thanks to which he produces money. This is a case of passive citizenship.
In contrast, a company that recognizes its human and natural environment, and therefore invests dividends and effort not only in enriching shareholders, but also in improving the lives of the community and being responsible for its needs, is promoting the active, involved and responsible citizenship.
digital citizenship
The digital citizenship is a sociological concept that emerged from the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, thanks to the new technologies of information and telecommunicationsTIC), in special to Internet. Digital citizenship, also called citizenship 2.0, consists of the use of these new technologies to make public information available to people, facilitate their bureaucratic and legal procedures, and allow the exercise of their rights and duties through digital platforms.
A key aspect of digital citizenship has to do with digital skills, that is, with the capabilities of technological management necessary in the population to take advantage of the citizen tools at their disposal, such as social networks and other digital citizen service channels.
The acquisition of these skills is also part of the educational guidelines of a contemporary State, that is, they are some of the notions that must be taught to future generations (and to current ones as well) to guarantee the correct exercise of digital citizenship.
Characteristics of a good citizen
The exact characteristics of a good citizen may vary depending on the context and the culture, but facing the global community brewing at the beginning of the 21st century, we can say that it boils down to:
- Be respectful of laws. This implies complying with our obligations in a proactive, attentive and timely manner, not only respecting the basic prohibitions (not stealing, not killing, among others).
- Being environmentally friendly. This means ensuring that our activities have the smallest possible environmental footprint, and applying the so-called “Three Rs” as much as possible: reduce, reuse and recycle.
- cultivate the values civic. This means meeting the minimum essential requirements to guarantee ourselves and others around us a good quality of life. Some of these values are respect, the tolerance, the equality before the law and consideration for those who suffer.
- Actively participate in citizen consultations. This implies taking an active, involved and informed role in the collective matters that concern us, such as voting in elections, participating in referendums, go to councils and assemblies, or simply be informed of the debates that take place at the national level.
- Demand that the authorities do their fair work. This implies denouncing irregularities, exercising protest and ensuring that the authorities carry out their work and organizing collectively to make their own voices heard, since the social and political system must meet the needs of the population, but at the same time passive citizens tolerate and allow evil government.