Imagining and practising citizenship in austere times: the work of Citizens Advice

Kirwan, Samuel; McDermont, Morag and Clarke, John (2016). Imagining and practising citizenship in austere times: the work of Citizens Advice. Citizenship Studies, 20(6-7) pp. 764–778.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2016.1191434

Abstract

This article explores the significance of citizenship for those working in Citizens Advice, a network of voluntary organizations in the UK that exists to provide peer-to-peer advice and support to those facing problems. Drawing on a recent research study, the article considers the ways in which the ‘citizen in citizens advice’ is imagined and translated into practice. Despite current political and policy moves to shrink citizenship (in terms of eligibility, access and substance), the ‘citizen in citizens advice’ is regularly thought about in expansive ways that draw on other imaginaries of citizenship. We suggest that these everyday discursive practices of citizenship are important both in analytic terms and in reinvigorating a political discussion otherwise focused upon restriction and exclusion.

Viewing alternatives

Metrics

Item Actions

Export

You can export this page using these formats Digital Object Identifier - DOI

About

• Item ORO ID
• 48077
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 1469-3593
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  New Sites of Legal Consciousness: A Case Study of UK Advice Agencies,	RCN: 102709	European Research Council

• Keywords
• citizenship; advice; dialogism; discursive practice; Austerity
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Social Sciences and Global Studies > Social Policy and Criminology
  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Social Sciences and Global Studies
  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
• Depositing User
• John Clarke