Theories of Citizenship
Efforts to understand the proper roles and responsibilities of the citizen trace back to ancient Greek philosophy Political theorist J.G.A. Pocock in fact suggests that the history of the concept of citizenship in Western political thought can be seen as an unfinished dialogue between the ideal and the real between persons and things (Pocock 1995/42) According to Poccok the classical account of citizenship that which best expresses the ideal was first developed in Aristotle's Politics In this view the citizen engages in the work of the polis because it is in this work that the individual attains his or her (for Aristotle it was only his) fullest humanity Because humans are active social and moral beings concerned with the purpose of life they seek to attain higher ends and is ruled citizens join each other in making decisions where decider respects the authority of the others and all join obeying the decisions they have made (Pocock 1995/31) Citizens are more concerned with the ends to attained in social life they have less concern of the means of industry or production Citizenship is not seen as an instrumental activity (a means to an end) To be an active citizen is an end in itself In is valued for the freedom that is obtained by participating in the work of the polity