To Be (Come) or Not to Be (Come): Understanding Children’s Citizenship

TLDR

The article reviews contemporary citizenship theories and examines how cultural, social, economic, and political constructions of childhood shape grounds for children’s citizenship. The study investigates the concept of children’s citizenship, questioning whether it can be fully realized and calling for deeper local-level understanding of children’s societal experiences. The authors use England as a case study, drawing on empirical research from children’s hospitals to illustrate how adult conceptions of childhood constrain children’s agency and deny them citizenship. The study finds that in social investment states like the UK, cultural politics of childhood render children’s citizenship ambiguous, and adult conceptions of childhood restrict children’s agency, denying them citizenship status.

Abstract

This article explores notions of the “child as citizen” and “children’s citizenship” in the context of possibilities and promises for the rights of children that are laid out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It poses the question, Can “children’s citizenship” ever be fully accomplished for and/or by children? The article begins with an examination of contemporary theories of citizenship and considers the grounds for children’s citizenship in the light of the ways in which “childhood” is culturally, socially, economically, and politically constructed in different societies. It suggests that in social investment states, such as the United Kingdom, the contemporary cultural politics of childhood mean that children’s citizenship remains ambiguous. What is needed, the article suggests, is a greater understanding at the local level of how children’s experiences as members of society unfold. Thus, taking England as a case study, and drawing on some empirical research with children’s experiences in children’s hospitals, the article illustrates the ways in which adults’ ideas about childhood limit children’s agency and actions, thereby denying them status as citizens.