Assembling Citizenship in Austere Times

Kirwan, Samuel; McDermont, Morag and Clarke, John (2017). Assembling Citizenship in Austere Times. In: Larner, Wendy and Higgins, Vaughan eds. Assembling Neoliberalism: Expertise, Practices, Subjects. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 109–129.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58204-1_6

Abstract

As neoliberalism has been assembled and reassembled in its many forms, citizenship has remained a constant object of its attention as a focal point through which economic, social and political relations can be reimagined and re-configured. We trace diverse attempts by neoliberal political projects to reassemble citizenship in the Global North and in the UK in particular. Drawing on a study of voluntary advice work in the UK (Citizens Advice), we explore how citizenship is being reassembled in the context of a citizen-to-citizen network of advice-giving. How are conceptions of citizenship negotiated in the face of the disassembling of citizenship in politics and policy? The study points to a complex field of negotiation, raising issues of theory and practice in everyday sites and relationships.