Citizenship and Beyond The Social Dynamics of An Idea

Citizenshipand Beyond: The Social Dynamics/ /BY RALF DAHRENDORF of an Idea
than in modern A here is no moredynamic socialfigure history and motor member The Citizen. Forcenturies now,he hasbeen of rising class in feudal socialgroups:of the urbanpropertied andninetenth ofthenewindustrial classin theeighteenth society, educational the to be called of come well what centuries, might a newand active theleisure class(orperhaps, with class) meaning, from themselves liberated and of who those today, throughout colonialdeand deprivationvilleinsand subjects, dependence and In women. of manykinds, minorities inspiring pendents, The Citizenhas movedfastand far, often leadingthesegroups, he is a pointat which so farindeedthatwe maybe approaching his in danger himself of overreaching through acby destroying and work. whichhe needsto breathe thevery conditions tivity in the end thatequiof citizenship The dynamics might upset it seemed andliberty for ofwhich librium ofequality thecreation uniquelysuited. of speaking, is whatI wantto say in this This, in a manner but then a problematic message, paper. It is,ifnota pessimistic, to which tends be I havealways felt that ruthless gloomy analysis - is a stimulus and in anycase a prerather thanrosy to action, of considered action. To be a littlemoreexplicit: condition is generally theantagwhich no action is possible) Hope (without I am on other. each but the thrive ofthefacts, onist antagonists theproblem in whichI define thatthemanner moreconcerned
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which I should deformations betraysa number of professional of make explicitat the outset lest therebe a misunderstanding mypurposeand approach. its expression is, to begin with,an idea whichfinds Citizenship in law, in thatsense a legal idea. It describesthe rights, usually - adults,taxthe privileges, of a category of men living in cities - as againstcountryfolk, the propertyownersof property payers, women and the like. Citizenshipcreatesa Rechtsless,minors, a community underlaw; it makesthosewho belong gemeinschaft, a partof the system themfromeach other of ruleswhichprotects a sortof club, fromoutsiders. With the spread and, by creating to of citiesand theirvalues and style, the club has been extended, all in principle, althoughAlexanderHamilton and JamesMadi- a subjectto whichI shall returna little son speak quite happily - in The Federalistof "a chosenbodyof citizens, whosewislater of "difof theircountry," dom maybest discernthe trueinterest to ration of need and the ferent classes of citizens," citizenship to them that not to is, automatically everybody.1 grant rights, which There are paradoxesin suchstatements, explosiveparadoxes of kind of in for well account the dynamics citizenship may part which is not which I want to explore in this paper, a dynamics In doing but social. nor even profoundly legal, political, primarily so I may well findmyself temptedto alienate a legal termfor sociologicalpurposes. is of course thatI whichI suffer from The seconddeformation involves am German,and thatthe Germannotion of citizenship in itsown have contributed which an unfortunate may ambiguity way to therefusalof manyGermansto admitThe Citizenon his Europe. When Kant describedthe "achievelong marchthrough the law" as "the mentof a civil societygenerally administering of which is forced the solution of upon greatest problem mankind,
i James Madison, "The Federalist No. 10" and "The Federalist No. 51," in The Federalist,edited by Jacob E. Cooke (Middletown: Wesleyan UniversityPress, 1961). below. Compare also the argument for representativegovernment,
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himby nature," there could be no doubtthat"civilsociety" is remarkwhat he meant Gesellschaft.2 bybrgerliche (It is worth is Fifth Thesis of his this the that essaycalled ing,incidentally, Intention" witha Cosmopolitan "The Idea of a GeneralHistory - in weltbrgerlicher on The Citizen his the Absicht, wayfrom or world-state.) to the universal the nation-state citythrough in Hegel'sOutlineof thePhilosophy later, of Nearly forty years a different the had Gesellschaft acquired very Right, brgerliche but a no an worth ultimate for, striving meaning, longer purpose atthat, on thejourney andthephase transitional ofnegation phase, in a State which hasbecome oftheWorldSpirit toward perfection the reality of the moralideal.3 For Hegel, as for Marx two was beyond therevolutionary ofcitizenship decades later, quality and and individualized society dispute;it had bothgeneralized and solidary tiesofthefeudal world. theparticular thus destroyed and his Even thelaborcontract between worker the individual a kindof freedom by employer (so Marxwas to argue)marked a But it is to inherited freedom, cynical dependence. comparison intoa to survive, basedas it wereon theneed to enter, in order of therefore thebeginning newand pseudovoluntary dependence, and thus, individual thepurely another He resented revolution. which"merely" of civil society character to his mind,arbitrary liband of and "safety protection property of personal provides 4 of theState. it withtheserene generality erty," and contrasted in ofthe ofproperty Hegel,thebuilt-in The protection disparity - thisis where of theintended in Marx laborcontract generality a dubiously where thebgerassumes thecitizen character, specific because the citoyen becomesa class society, liehe Gesellschaft and sinceboth, withthebourgeois, almost merges imperceptibly
2 Cf. Immanuel Kant, "Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbrgerlicher edited by Paul Menzer (Berlin, 1911), pp. 21 ff;my Absicht,"in Populre Schriften, translation. s Cf. G. W. F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, edited by Johannes Hoffmeister (Hamburg, 1955), especially sec. 182 ff. * Ibid., sec. 258.
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in German,are called Brger,the supersession of the brgerliche to abandon citizen turn out the Gesellschaft along with the may bourgeois:National Socialism. to trace The Citizen It is possible,and certainly rewarding, Rome through in his longmarchfrom theGreekpolitiesand from of the seventeenth, the medievalcitiesand the revolutions eighI shall do I not here. but so and nineteenth centuries; teenth, to the am not even going to make more than a passingreference and betweencitizenship of the relationship more recenthistory social classwhichT. H. Marshallhas describedin such a masterly fashion. Even if I wanted to do these things,I could not do whichhave held my atforthe practicalconcerns themproperly, tentionfor some time have also orientedmy mind. There is whichcombinesthe asprobablyno otheridea in human history of man's need forequalityand man's desire forliberty pirations as does that of citizenship. But in fact such combinationsare neverstatic. Everytime,and of course everyactor in it, has to ask anew which is the problemmostacutelyin need of solution life chancesto the the greatest whichoffers if one seeksa society number. I would suggestthat this is a time in which greatest and direcsome of the assumptions thereis a need to reconsider from I conceal And cannot of liberal tions you thatthis politics. me in thisdiscussion. whichmotivate is one of the interests
Rationalityand Citizenship nois closelylinkedto theall-important The idea of citizenship the greathistoricalthemewhich tion of modernity. Modernity, the world since the time of has spread fromEurope throughout in the real world as in that of science,has the greatdiscoveries, in manyways. Max Weber,who devoteda lifetime been defined saw its dominantfeaturein what he called to its understanding, rationality a complextermto unravel. It involvescalculability action,the need in an entirely sense,but also purposeful technical
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to givereasons forjudgments, and application thedevelopment an extenof organizations, ofscientific thesetting-up knowledge, all a of sionofformalized and this against background legalrules, traditional of ties,unquestioned loyalties, religious justifications or persecular has itsownambiguities, immobility. Rationality For Max man from the it liberates dialectic. Weber, unqueshaps himin theend intoa tioned bondsof tradition onlyto deliver state.5 Gehuseder Hrigkeit, the prisonof the bureaucratic and theintended Thereis theimplicit of themarket, rationality in the of the plan,and theirprecarious relationship rationality But the and of of whatever rules the ambiguities game.6 shape of the describes the pervasive ide-force rationality problems, the modern all to eat and of societies which have world, begun fruit ofthetree of knowledge. infectious not of rationality, is the institutional Citizenship counterpart into an of a the idea but merely reality, crystallizationrationality of worldis dominated a socialrole. The modern by thetheme revolt in where it to even its values, against appears rationality in its of citizen role the anditischaracterized the social, reason, by between relations and political moreover, economic, organization; Thereis thecommon are no accident. and rationality citizenship basicqualities withcertain thatall menare endowed assumption a community ofa rational tobe parts which enablethem universe, between there of citizens; is theevident rationality, relationship It and of the theimplicit law, citizenship. is,in the universality or legalauthority ofrational characteristic of Max Weber, words of legitiand thecharismatic to thetraditional types (bycontrast of mateauthority) thatit is based on instituted law, consisting and to explicit areadministered ruleswhich principles, according thememarevalidforall, whileat thesametimebinding which - as thisis usually "that ofa community bers capacity, onlyin this
e Cf. Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft,edited by Johannes Winckelmann 559 ff,842. (Tbingen: Mohr, 1956), pp. 125 ff, e Cf. my essay "Market and Plan" in my Essays in the Theory of Society (Stanford: StanfordUniversity Press, 1968).
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- he who obeys merelyas an associate,and merelyto expressed 'thelaw/ ... As an associatein a club, a community, as a member 7 in the state:Brger/' The social role of the citizen ofa church, a cancerousgrowth underwent benevolentat first, itself, possibly malevolent of modernity in termsof the basic now, a definition social positionof the individual: The role of citizendescribesa for all those set of fundamentally equal rightsof participation of the community. who are fullmembers This is an essayin social and political analysisratherthan a of citizenship definition or a comtreatise. Insteadofa systematic let me confine of its development, myself prehensive presentation of thisrole whichcan help to mentioning threeelements therefore and socious to identify some of thosemorerecentsocioeconomic in the motion citizen, which,while set by politicaldevelopments and lead perhaps beyond rationality might beyond citizenship, and modernity as well. The first point I want to make about the role of the citizenis forall thosewho hold it. It thatit involvesa set of equal rights is more than one well be this statement that already;equality may of the statusand citizenship and the legal character may be two in the present contextis thatcitdifferent things. What matters established with certain who all it those enjoy izenshipprovides to whichthereis no withrespect and commitments, opportunities men are indistintwo As between them. difference citizens, any refers to rights, thatis, not guishable;but thislack of distinction actions. or actionbut to chances,to potential to properties morespecific. is somewhat about citizenship A secondstatement a chance to participate is In one of its centralaspects, citizenship in the life of the community. Citizenshipis, in other words, - alof one's person more than the rightto defendthe integrity elementof genbeen an integral thoughhabeas corpushas clearly eral citizenship. It is the rightto take partin the shapingof the the more precisely, which determinethe community, conditions
7 Weber, und Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft p. 125.
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in themaking to participate of the lawsbinding right upon all in can be a society citizens.It is a debatable there pointwhether thisis andothers not. I wouldarguethat which somearecitizens in Rome,and in ancient and hasin fact occurred Greece, possible as cities aboveall in themedieval and,byanalogy, corporations, which haveextended wellas in modern societies suffrage political But it is not debatable whether late. often rather and gradually in countries whichdenyparticipation to all there is citizenship of confine which it to an uncontrolled but a very few, minority as well as rulers. Thereis not: Classical tyranny self-appointed that modern of bureaucracies, one-party including dictatorship, in the of a chance ofparticipation.8 sense exclude citizenship imbe of cardinal well which Then there is a third point may tomemisa generalized related portance today. Citizenship right, debe historically itsboundaries in a society however may bership and the thecitizen fined.This is where between therelationship ofa person's citizenthenotions nation-state comes in,and where is to The and seem his merge. merger probably nationality ship been of the has real,and citizenaccidental; city-state citizenship conceivable.But in anycase there shipof theworldis certainly of and theextent theroleof thecitizen is a relationship between As the therelevant political or at anyratelegal community. a of members for all all is its in law, society, binding parts, equally are who those of defines the generalized so citizenship public of this in ofparticipation theshaping withequal rights equipped not onlyaccepted has replaced citizenship society.Historically, but also corporate and the denial of participation, inequalities is partand parcelof the feudalsynwhoseautonomy structures of premodern socialstructures. drome I havemerely alludedto one question three In these statements Can citizenship itfurther consideration. which maywell merit
8This is notto saythatcitizenship conor in practice an "indivisible" is in theory - and to name them - wherethe of countries possibleto think cept. It is perfectly is less is recognized but participation is not. The reverse rule of law (Rechtsstaat) nationsoffer somedeveloping exampleseven of that. although plausible,
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selfbe a privilege, or is a societyin whichsome are citizensand in terms? I have said thata role has othersnot a contradiction in factexistedin ancientGreece or in medievalcitieswhich can be describedas that of citizen. But the important point is not In of modern the the world, dynamics citizenship terminological. was such that we have witnessedand continue to witnessan indomitableexpansion of an originallyverylimited apparently fromall taxpaying men above a role. The extensionof suffrage to all men about twenty-one, to all men certainage such as thirty and womenabove twenty-one, to all men and womenabove eighwhich has undoubtedly teen, indicatesa course of development and not reacheditsend yetwithrespectto politicalparticipation, forotheraspectsof the role of citizenas whichhas implications well. Once the seed of citizenship has been planted in a society, it will grow like ivy,not to say like weeds, until its outgrowth in as large a segof a community has coveredas manymembers mentoftheir social livesas is at all possible. Thus thegeneralized conwhichwe call citizenship on equal terms to right participate social roles. As the citizenbesumes other,more differentiated of the comes The Citizen,he not only extendsthe membership of membership. but also the substanceand significance category to quote Tocqueville at this point? This is, in Is it necessary thevagaries of thecitizenon the wherewe encounter otherwords, way to his self-denial. and Social Class, T. H. Marshall,in his analysisof Citizenship the statusof citizenhas posed the important questionof whether In its earliest class. with of social is inequalities ship compatible civil rights;but these version, gave men legal powers, citizenship who werelacking those for werebound to remainempty promises not only the economicmeans to make use of thembut even the politicalrightsto make sure that the rules of the law were not turnedto the advantageof somegroupsover others. systematically came to supplementlegal citizenship. Thus political citizenship to vote and to be elected,to formpoliticalgroups,to The rights voice political views freely,added importantelements to the
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so long status; but they too were bound to remain insufficient as economicand social differences prevented people fromacquirthe indeed the the ing organizationalprerequisites, experience, means to exercisetheirrights. This is why,in Marshall'sview, a set of social rightsof citizenshipwas needed to give this role - old-agepensions,unemployment its full meaning benefits, public health insurance, legal aid, a minimumwage, indeed a guaranteed minimumstandardof living. Thus "the basic human . . . has been enrichedwith new subequality of membership stanceand invested witha formidable arrayof rights.... It has 9 been clearlyidentified withthe statusof citizenship."
The Decline ofDiversity Marshall stopped his analysisat this point. Indeed, and in keeping with the mood of many proven champions of social in the 1950s,he suggested that"the inequalities citizenship rights and even no longerconstitute molded,by citizenship" permitted, class distinctions and therefore do not give rise to class struggles but become "sociallyacceptable."10 But are thereany inequalities whichare molded,or even permitted, by citizenship? Marshall himselfmakes the specificpoint: "Through education in its relationswith occupational structure, citizenshipoperates as u an instrument of social stratification/' And we remember Michael Young'smeritocratic utopia whichhas carriedthisnotion - or, to be less theoretical, to its extreme. But is it true has it in - that the champions of citizenshiphave taken fact been true and "social stratification" forgrantedas "occupationalstructure" differentiated that is, structures of inequality? structures,
9 Thomas H. Marshall, Citizenship and Social Class (Cambridge: Cambridge UniPress,1950),p. 9. versity io ibid., pp. 75 ff. ii Ibid., p. 67.
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Educationis a case in point. When I myself pleaded,a decade was one which the argument ago, for"educationas a civil right/' is familiar is a basic today.12Equalityof educationalopportunity rightof everycitizen,because education is both a prerequisite and a dimensionof full social and political participation. Such is threatened not only by legal obstacles, equalityof opportunity or by overteconomicand social barriers, but by less visible barriersas well. Working-class childrengrow up at a considerable social distancefrominstitutions of higherlearning,a distanceof a distance of a distanceof culture. It information, motivation, is thus necessary not only to abolish school fees and to supply school buses and day schools,but also to informparents and childrensystematically about opportunities whichare available to them,to motivatethemforhighereducation,to enable them to go along thisroad withouthavingto abandon the culturalattributes of theirsocial origin. Clearly,citizenshipthus conceived extendsfarbeyondeven Marshall'snotion of its "social" aspects, and somewherealong this road one crosses a line where the - that is, of differences - slides over from abolition of obstacles thecreationof equal opportunities to the creationof equal status. - equality At theend oftheroad and by no meansin fiction only of educational opportunity is thoughtof as requiring the replacementof the Queen's Englishby class dialects,and the rearof curriculaso as to enable childrenof all groups to rangement succeed equally, or at least in proportionto the size of their "have to change groups. "We will," to quote Christopher Jencks, the rules of the game so as to reduce the rewardsof competitive 13 successand the costs of failure." schools are Comprehensive creatednot to offer a more varied set of opportunities to more childrenbut to organizethe equalityof all. Daniel Bell has recently analyzedthis particularaspect of the
12Cf. my Bildung ist Brgerrecht(Hamburg: Nannen-Verlag, 1965). 13 ChristopherJencks,Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America (New York: Basic Books, 1972), pp. 8 ff.
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in a chapteron " Meritocracy of citizenship and Equaldynamics ity"of his The Comingof Post-Industrial Society. We owe him in The social manyinsights. "change temper"to whichhe refers is in factone of those jumps fromquantityto quality where a littlemore citizenship changesthe entirecomplexionof society. In educationthismeansa transition fromequalityof opportunity to the equality of the result of the educational effort. Already, so Bell concludes,"the conceptof equality of resulthas become the Archimedean to providea philopoint of a major new effort - for a sophical foundation a concept of justice as fairness 14 communalsociety." Nor is thisprocessconfined to education. One otherexample is of particularinterestfor reasons of fact and analysis. Sociwith understandable naivete between ologistsused to distinguish two kinds of differences of social status,ascribed and achieved. Achieved statusrefersto positionswhich people can reach by theirown efforts; such positionsare capable of redefinition, are of action a certain income level, for example, objects political in clubs which are to indicatesocial posimembership recognized tion, an occupation with higher or lower prestige. There are othersocial positions whichescape (so it was assumed) the efforts of human achievementbecause they are based on natural differences. They may be definedin one way or another,held in higheror lower esteem,but as different positions they are inescapablygiven, their status is ascriptive age and sex are the most obvious examples. Now it is a notable fact that the extensionof citizenship has reached,in recentyears,the apparently walls of ascribed status. Men and women are unsurmountable not merelyto be given the suffrage and equal wages for equal but are to be as equals in all respects; treated work, they supposed can societyis to be arrangedin such a way that the differences be ignored. An analogous developmenthas long set in with
i* Daniel Bell, The Comingof Post-Industrial Society (New York: Basic Books, 1973), p. 433.
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distribution to age, one of theoldestsourcesof differential respect ofpower. is a set of equal rights, and rights are in one respect Citizenship to make choices. It is commonplace chances,opportunities today that such rightscannot be given by writingthem into constitutionsand laws. But the processof creatingthe conditionsunder which citizenshiprightsbecome real has gone far beyond the realms. As social groupsand legal, political,and socioeconomic of theirspokesmen have discoveredthe intrinsic incompleteness deradical of more and the equal opportunities, political payoff to inequalitieswhichare mands,theyhave turnedtheirattention at thecore of anysocial structure.The distinction betweenequal and for a of between status, rights leveling opportunities equal has come to be choice and a levelingof the choices themselves, blurredand eventually abandoned. It maybe argued,of course, thatthe distinction was at all timesin part a defensemechanism by the haves againstthe have-nots. By abandoningit, however, the extenthen with growingmomentum, at first, imperceptibly sion of the equal rightsof citizenship createsa conditionunder whichtheserights choices lose much of theirmeaning:theyoffer which can no longer be made, theypromisedifferential opportunitieswhich no longer exist. If it is true that citizenship to which its chances are structure presupposesa differentiated related,it now appears that the dynamicsof citizenshipsets in of societywhich in the end motion a processof destructuring denies the citizenthe fruitof his labors. which are more serious There are aspectsof this development in this cursoryanalysis.15A return than can be demonstrated to Rousseau is in fact invariablya returnto Hobbes, and the aurea aetas of communal happinesshas a frightening tendency to turnout to be a heliumomniumcontraomnescalling forlaw
is Among them the importanttheoreticalpoint raised by Plato and Aristotlealike, according to whom the political communityis inconceivable among entirelyequal beings.
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and orderto hold together of the remnants the unstructured searchfor equality. It mightbe usefulto directthe underto conwith the legitimation standable concern of inequality siderations of thiskind. For Daniel Bell becomes unfortunately and somewhat naive when he beginsto arguethat unexpectedly "a society that doesnothaveitsbestmenat theheadofitsleading 16 This never and moralabsurdity." institutions is a sociological what of course;whathappensis thatsocieties define happens, is "good"and "best"in new ways. "Authority," saysBell, "is a competence based on skill,learning, or some talent, artistry similar it leadsto distinctions those attribute. between Inevitably 17 and those whoare superior whoare not." - but thenwhat I can followthisargument as faras it goes are the relevant skillsand talents? Is therenot an implicit here that menare not onlydifferent assumption by naturebut thatthesedifferences establish one natural Age and hierarchy? virtues and commercial measured sex,knightly talent, intelligence and theability to persuade, and many other are all endowments, basesof distinction and thusof authority. The point possible about the dynamics of equalityis not thatnaturaldifferences haveto be reasserted thepointis, rather, against egalitarianism; thatmadeby Tocqueville, Mill, and Max Weber: JohnStuart The Citizenis in dangerof destroying the veryworldof differentiated choices which he setout to conquerforall; and the with its of struclack of hierarchy and diversity, world, resulting turaldifferentiation, to those may becomean open invitation crudeand destructive whichthemature citizen was suppowers to banish from the world of men forever. posed The Trendtoward Participatory Democracy The second I want tomakeaboutthedynamics ofcitizenpoint
16 Bell, The Coming of Post-IndustrialSociety,p. 454. 17Ibid., p. 453.
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in one respect. Championsof citizenship the first shipresembles have alwaysassumed that the new statusprovidesequal opportunitiesto choose in a world of unequal choices. They undera strucestimated the radicalness of The Citizenby presupposing tured universeof social choices. It has become apparent that The Citizenis liable to destroy thatuniverseat the riskof reducto politicalparticipation, inghis own fieldofaction. Withrespect the corresponding has been even more explicit. Not assumption one of the great theorists of government under conditionsof in has fact advocated a of citizenship system "pure democracy." with and Along "pure monarchy'* "pure aristocracy," JohnStuart 18and Mill explicitly denouncedsuch "unbalancedgovernments," in doing so he merelyechoed the authorsof The Federalist,or Edmund Burke,indeed JohnLocke, and manyothersrightback to Plato's preference for mixed constitutions. Instead, modern as have advocated representative political theorists government the adequate framework for the citizen to expresshis political choicesand take part in the life of the republic. But representativegovernment means,of course,thatsome citizensare more than others,or else that generalcitizenship equal rightsof parwhile all have the right to vote, and ticipationare restricted: to be elected,to join political partiesand take part in political debate,only a feware in positionsto exercisethe rightto enact lawsand thusto determine theconditions defining people's status, the status of there are ordinary including possibly citizenship; citizensand representative citizens. Again, in other words,the idea of an equal statusof citizenship was associatedwiththe more or less explicit assumptionof an unequally structured universe of participation, and again it appears today the championsof underestimated the dynamics of the idea. citizenship Like social stratification, is not ingovernment representative trinsic to the idea of citizenship. Indeed, it may be argued that
18JohnStuart and Representative Government Mill, Utilitarianism, Liberty, (New
York: E. P. Dutton, 1910), p. 316.
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the notionof continuousand immediateparticipation historically in the political process was by no means alien to citizenship. There is more to citizenship, and to democracyin Switzerland but it is today,than the remnantsof participatory democracy, worth as the model: the citizen is identified belongremembering at least to a or local, circumscribed, ing narrowly generally he is frequently called upon to decide subregionalcommunity; stantive issuesalong with all his fellowcitizens,ideally in open what governdebate,in the Landsgemeindeor the marketplace; mentexistsis supposedto administer the decisionsof the people, not to lead. This notion of government invokesanother idea, thatof the delegate. If forreasonsof the size of a community, or the time it takes to accomplisha given task,it is impossible forall citizens to participate all the time,theychoose fromamong themselves to defend and implement theirviews as delepersons free to make gates with a firmmandate,not as representatives theirown choicesonce theyare elected. JohnStuartMill clearly does not like the idea, but he is honestenoughto say: "However or however foolish,we may think it in the wrong,therefore, electors to convert theirrepresentative intoa delegate,thatstretch of theelectoral privilegebeinga naturaland not improbableone, 19 the same precautions ought to be taken as if it were certain." It is, as we shall see, difficult to take precautionsagainst the voraciousness of The Citizen. In orderto understand thedynamics of thecitizenas participant in politicaldecisions, it is usefulto remember someof theclassical for arguments representative government. Apart fromthe size of communities, and the corresponding technical problems of directdemocracy or even delegate government (as distinctfrom occasionaltaskssuchas thatof the ElectoralCollege in the United recur. One is in termsof quality, the States),two arguments otherin termsof class. Madison readilyadmitsthatrepresentativegovernment is a deviationfroman egalitarianideal, as even
19Ibid.,p. 316;myemphasis.
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the wording of his argumentagainst democracyand for the republicbetrays: ofthe. . . difference and enlarge The effect is,... to refine public them a chosenbodyof of medium the views, by passing through citizens of their whosewisdom the trueinterest maybestdiscern and whosepatriotism and love of justice,will be least country, to sacrifice or partialconsiderations.20 it to temporary likely The point has been made in other ways, but it generally amountsto suggesting thatrepresentative is necessary government in order to selectthe best and entrust themfora time with the affairs of the community. Madison was not unaware of the difficulties of thisnotion,much less so Mill, who listed a whole catalogue of difficulties (How can one make sure that the best are really chosen? How can those who do not have certain qualities themselves judge them in others?etc.), but the point remainsthat for the classical theorists of representative governmentthe scope of generalcitizenship remainslimited; participation of all is regarded as essentiallysporadic and in a sense reactive. The other argumentfor representative is even government more unashamedlyone of interest, not to say class privilege. Alexander Hamilton put this in ratheramusingtermswhen he argued that it is not physicallypossible for all classes to be bodies. According to actually representedin decision-making because some classesrepreHamilton,thisis not necessary, either, - for example, "mechanicsand manufactursent othersperfectly ers" are in any case best represented because by "merchants," furnish the materials for mercantile enterprise and "they 21 industry." This convenientdivisionof labor was no doubt supposed to of social groups,classes,in actual propreventthe participation portion to their size, and instead introduce an intermediate elementof representation.To quote Mill once again:
20 Madison, "The Federalist No. 10," in The Federalist, p. 62. 2i Alexander Hamiton, "The Federalist No. 35," in The Federalist,p. 219.
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In thatfalsely rule calleddemocracy which theexclusive is really of the operative and unall others classes, being unrepresented and theonlyescapefrom in itsnarrowest, classlegislation heard, in itsmostdangerous, wouldlie in such form, political ignorance educated haveto choose as theuneducated might repdispositions and to defer to their resentatives, opinions.22 I think there is a bettercase for representative government than some of its advocateshave advanced,and I shall returnto it presently; but the arguments almostwithquoted demonstrate out further analysiswhy it is that,once The Citizen was born, he did not restcontentwith the place he was assignedas a participantin the political process. An originallylimited set of rightsprovideda lever for demandingmore. Up participation to a point,this was a demand withinan undisputedframework of representative government:the abolition of unequal voting of suffrage, the extension even highervoter turnout,the rights, creation of conditions forthe organization of politicalparties, etc. But developments did not stopthere;they have led, morerecently, to a revival of the demand for participatory democracywhich has considerableramifications of a constitutional and political character. Perhaps this trend is not yet as concentratedand massiveas that which leads fromequal opportunities to equal but some of the markers on the road fromequal particiresults, pation rights to equal participationitself can no longer be overlooked. Let me mentiona few examples withoutexaminingthem in elementsof direct any detail. The demand for constitutional is growing. In some countries, such as France,it has democracy in others, been institutionalized; such as Britainand Germany, it is debated for certain cases. More significant than organized or the directelectionsto important is the rapid referenda, offices, of "citizens' initiatives" of more or ad less hoc growth organizations to preventthe construction of a nuclear reactor,demand the abolition of the death penalty (or the reverse),join forces
22Mill, Utilitarianism, and Representative Government, Liberty, p. 324.
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forestablishing etc. While such activities facilities, kindergarten are sporadicand oftenshort-lived, their growthmay well mark the beginningof an increasingly urgentdemand for direct participation. The community politics movementchampioned by BritishLiberals has met withwidespreadsupport. It is part of the same trendthat in manycountriesthe representativeis assumingfeaturesof the delegate. To begin with, are this happens in a practical manner. Candidates for office and severely cross-examined;between elections, constituency partymeetingsbecome more frequent;articulationof voter interests createsa yardstick for measuringthe "loyalty"of reprethe number of cases where representatives sentatives;possibly are not reelected is growing. In some places, the trend goes in a number of German cities, the imperativMandat further; has become a fact,if an unconstitutional one, for Social Democratic office holders. As thosewho hold office it is almostnatural become delegates, that the demand for equal representation (to use the word in a less technicalsense) should grow. Merchantscan clearly no in mechanics;theyboth have to be represented longerrepresent to their importancein the population; and likewise proportion women, people fromall regions,membersof various religious and ethnic groups,and whateverother categoriesare relevant. And in orderto safeguard of all in everything, the participation is coupled withorganizedso-called"parities" delegategovernment in governing bodies: Drittelparitt (that is, equal representation of professors, assistants,and students) in universitysenates, of capital and parittische Mitbestimmung (equal representation labor) in the boardsof industrial enterprises. If the presentation of this list of trendsbetraysan undertone of irony,I do not want to be misunderstood.Participation is a civil right too, and the original notion of citizenshipcertainly on its exercise. Indeed, every restrictions imposed unjustified one of the measurescited, fromcommunity politics to codeterfrom citizens' initiatives to demand for pledges the mination,
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has its justice and logic. And yet the from representatives, of participation dynamics providesanotherexample of how the which in the end idea of citizenship has released a development is liable to defeatits own purpose. As equality,when it spreads fromopportunities to results,makes choices impossible,so participationcan lead to a verzuiling(to use a colorfulDutch exof pression),a "pillarization"and cementingof the structures in which makes it all to take but government meaningless part the processof makingdecisions. Take the case of delegationor (as Mill calls it) pledges, the mandategiven to electedofficeholders. It is certainly imperative should feel rightin principlethatthosewho hold electiveoffice - the views and interests and be committedto representing of theirelectors;in the past, the principleof representation has at times been grossly abused. But if the opposite case is driven to its extreme,its result is equally frightening in theoryand in practice. In theory it means that the holder of electiveoffice is unable to make any move without the explicit approval of his electors. Such approval is hard to come by; it takes time, but above all long,almostinterminable discussions. The delegate is unable to reactquicklyto new situations and problems. He is above all unable to lead, thatis, to introduce an innovation before it has been accepted by all; he has neither incentivenor real forbeing ahead of his electorate. This is bad enough, possibility for it means inaction instead of action, immobility instead of progress. In practice,the situationis even worse,and not un. so. For, in fact, little analysis is needed to characteristically show that the representative turned delegate will become the for a rather small spokesman group of citizens: not the entire electoratebut a party organization, and not the whole party but who can afford to meet freorganization, only the activists and for hours of debate. quently long inconsequential The point bears generalization. I submitthat the permanent of all in everything is in facta definition of total participation immobility. Instead of the dialectic of leadershipand control
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whichguarantees thatinnovation takesplace but is not unchecked, it would mean a mixtureof permanenttheoreticaldebate and permanent practicalinaction. It has to be admittedthat parts of some European universities have reached this stage of rigor if equally tellingexamples. Is but less extreme there are mortis, it an accident that Switzerland, where a popular majorityis has introduced women's later than almost all suffrage required, other countriesand only recently rejected, in a plebiscite,the reduction of the votingage to eighteen? Contrary to the beliefs of many,innovation and participation are not naturalallies; and an optimal balance betweenthe two requiresrestrictions on the all in of permanentparticipation everythingmajorityvoting, for example,or representative government. My own argument in favorof constitutional withstrong arrangements representative elementswould in any case not be based on reasons of class or the quality of representatives, but on the need for innovative government. This is the theoretical side of things,the case for limits on himparticipation. Here too, The Citizen is about to overreach self,to create conditionswhich would make the very principle useless which he tries to establish. If the political societyis organizedin such a way that all groups are represented everyare in fact delegates,then decisions where,and representatives becomevirtually and participation loses all meaning. impossible, All that is left is a rightto be presentat endless debates, but no longera chanceto do things, to effect however modest changes, - may or the contribution of the individual citizen to them they be. But the practicalproblemis more difficult still. I did not use the words rigor mortislightly. Even a slowdown of the processof innovationcan be deadly in modern societies. It is in fact almost a definition of a revolutionary situation,in any case of a situationwhichcalls fordramaticchanges. I have felt at timesto analyzeMarx's notionof the finalcommunist tempted or Rousseau's romanticimage of the free consensusof society, freemen,as involuntary of statesin whichproblems descriptions
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can onlybe solvedby extreme by tyranny.Nothing suppression, calls forHerrschaft as much as the attempted realizationof the ideal of and for the disenfranGenossenschaft, nothing Utopian chisement of thecitizenas thepractice of totalparticipation. This is where the destructuring of societyand the verzuilingof the politicalprocess by totalparticipation join hands. SectoralCitizenship Kant assumedthat,at least if therewas to be lastingpeace, the would graduallybe extendedgeographically scope of citizenship as well as in substance. The nation-state had already enlarged the legal and political space in which the citizen exercisedhis as worldcitizens, all men will one day be members of the rights; same community of law and government. In some ways,I suppose, some such idea is part of the rarelydebated assumptions about progress whichmanyof us carrywith us. We may laugh about the man who manufactures forhimself a passport as World Citizen No. 1; but I suppose the bearer of a passportof the Republic of Bavaria would have as much trouble as World Citizen No. 1, whereas I, for example, hold a passportof the which is recognizedby the immigration European Community authorities of nine countries. Yet there is something curiously one-dimensional about theseassumptions. Certainly thisparticular dynamics of citizenship has been ratherless in evidence than anotherone, pointingin the oppositedirection, whichin its turn mayyetlead to a point wherethereis a passportfor the citizen of Wales, or of Flanders,or of Bavaria, and I wonder whether this is not the most serious illustration of the virulence of the idea ofcitizenship. at least in its modernversion, was not only linked Citizenship, to the developmentof larger political entities,nations, but it also replacedloyalties whichbound men to specific guilds, groups, universities, corporations, by generalized loyalties. The realm
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of the law as a body of rules whichis applicable to all expanded involvesthe creationof a pubalong withcitizenship; citizenship of reprelic whichfinds its politicalexpression (under conditions in a parliamentwhose authority extends sentative government) in principle over the whole of society. But of course, while and organizations in this processlost their special corporations or found it reduced, they did not disappear as separate status, entities economic enterprisesand churches, universitiesand and associations of manykinds,the family. armies,organizations defined with the of the of a community role member Citizenship to thoserules whichare commonto all, and thusbinding respect on all institutions and organizations, but it did not as such apply to their own internal structures. More than that, citizenship - thecommunity underlaw, theelectorate, thegeneral emphasized - at the expense of the the generalized called marketplace public but here as elsewhere of citizenship was the dynamics particular; than the limitations of its greater origins. JrgenHabermas has done for the analysisof the structural change of the generalizedpublic what T. H. Marshall did for that of citizenship and social class, except that Habermas takes a more gloomyview of things. The generalizedpublic, in his of an early,and misleading, liberal distincview,is characteristic tion betweenstateand society. Generalizedrules reflect a brin which "the intact of gerlich public, autonomy societyas a private spheremade it possibleto removespecial interest positions fromthe substanceof legislationand confinenormativeaction 23 As the to the generalconditionsof the balance of interests." - Marshall's withthesocial order, statebeginsto interfere however - "the generalityof the norm as a social rightsof citizenship principlecannotbe sustained." This means,amongotherthings, that the "relativelyhomogeneouspublic of reasoning private individuals" gives way to organized sectoral interests;the one can no longerbe public givesway to severalpublics; citizenship
23JrgenHabermas, Strukturwandel der ffentlichkeit (Neuwied: Hermann Luchterhand,1962),p. 196.
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of as a generalizedstatusenabling people to participate thought in thesocial and politicalprocess. In themodernmassdemocracy based on sociallycommitted government, thecommunication context ofa publiccan be brought aboutonly in sucha waythattheformaliy circulation within short-circuited withtheinformal "quasi-public" opinionis linkedand combined realmof thoseopinionsso farnonpublic of a critical by virtue which in theinternal is aroused oforganization.24 publicity publics In all its abstraction, this is nothing short of the theoryof whathas come to be called the democratization of society. The original citizen had one general political public as his marketplace. But the developmentof citizenshipitself increasingly stimulated the demand for an extensionof citizenship rightsto otherrealmsand sectors of society. If and when social structure intervenes betweenthe individual and government, the demand is bound to arise foran organization of the various segments of in a manner that is if to not identical with that society analogous of the general public. The economic citizen, the citizen in - all contradictions the churchof citizens,are born in uniform, termsand at the same time apparentlyinevitableconsequences of the idea of citizenship. Once again, it is neithersurprising nor in itselfregrettable that the idea of citizenship should spread fromthe whole to its It could be to parts. argued, be sure,thatthe rules of the whole are not easily transferred to all parts. The citizen in uniform will under all conditionshave to toleraterelationsof super-and subordination which the general citizen would not accept; and whatever economicor industrialdemocracy means,it can hardly work as a systemof government and opposition with regular elections the possibility of a changeof power. But this involving that the basic embodied in merelyproves rightsof participation the statusof citizenship have different almost technical practical, in different sectors of consequences society. As a principle,the "democratization" of societyseems as reasonable and legitimate
24ibid., pp. 269 ff .
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as equalityof opportunity and full political participation. But too is a as withthesetwo aspectsof citizenship, democratization processwhich is liable to extend beyond the point at which it increases the rights of citizensto the creationof new and difficult problems. case in point. Let us Industrialdemocracyis an important and the board to which he is reassume that an entrepreneur, cannot continue its operasponsible,discoverthat an enterprise costshave risen,further tions. Sales have dropped consistently, is not possible, longer-term rationalization predictionsare bad (so we assume,althoughof course the decision may in fact be will close down workers are told thatthe firm moreidiosyncratic); at a given time. But theydo not accept this decision. Instead, take charge of production they take possessionof the factory, disthemselves, system, begin to organize their own marketing tributethe profits among them. Are they not in some sense rightsin the sphere of industry? To be exercising citizenship is extreme; but many sure, the case of the Lip watch factory in same the other developments direction,especiallyorpoint been describedas a ganized codetermination.This has rightly notion,less because of the role it ascribesto the trade syndicalist froma total economywith unionsthan because of the regression its largermarketembedded in a political societyto a series of consumers, agencies. government relatively separate enterprises, from remote rather which was in a world existed of course, Lip, enabled the workersfor its own aspirations;the verydifference the case raisesmany a while to sell theirproducts. Nevertheless, the police be called Should of sectoral of theproblems citizenship: valid generalrules? In the actual case, manyargue in to enforce that the minister responsiblemade the mistakeof not doing so but it is clear that industrialdemocracyon the immediately; enterpriselevel tends to weaken in some cases render inap- generalrules of law and instead produce its own secplicable toral rules. Along with this,anotheraspect of the public dis- the market;forthe market is essentially common,transappears parent,and unified. Sectoralcitizenswould tend to replace it
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by negotiatedexchange of goods, barter trade. This does not workvery well; it certainly posescomplexquestionsifan economy maris intendedto grow or to survivein a wider,international ket. (Yugoslavia's"politicalfactories" maybe modelsof one kind of democracy, but theyare economicruins.) The sectoralcitizen findshimselfunable in the end to exercisehis rightseffectively because he is bound to discoverthat his own sectorcannot live by itself; by pushing sectoral citizenship to its extreme, he severedthe outsideties he needed to make his own sectorwork. of the analysisleads to ratherextreme Once again, the brevity of what are in factbut trends. Still, the demand to statements fromintervention createFreirume,sanctuaries by the protected generalpublic,and thisnot as privatespacesbut as social instituand it resultsin an increasingfragmentation tions,is growing, of the political (as well as the economicand social) community. There is a demand for specificrightsof workers,of students, of churchmembers;and a denial of the rightof the generalized agencies,to public, including parliamentsand law-enforcement governin these sectors. And as the victoryof the generalized a guild,a housecitizenover the feudalmemberof a corporation, hold or village markeda gain in individualchancesof participaso the refeudalization and the collectiveabilityfor innovation, tion whichThe Citizen effects by applyingthe general principle to of his existence specificsectorscarrieswith it the danger of* which turn a conquest of territories ineffectiveness, immobility, out to be barren. Societiesas a whole become ungovernableif in the name of citizenship to be govtheirsectors refuse, rights, the abilityof sectors erned,and thisin turncannot fail to affect to survive:the paradox of The Complete Citizen. The Task fora New Liberalism
The classicalcitizenas an ideal typeinvokesalmost naturally the social world of classicalliberalism:equal rightsto choose in a world of unequal alternatives, participationin a systemof
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a generalizedpublic of individuals representative government, whichsafeguards the rules of the marketof whichall are a part. Let me leave no doubt that this classical citizenis, in my view, a veryimperfect liberals have recreatureindeed. Progressive as a challengefor at all of times the garded principle citizenship social, economic,and political action. And while historically manyof the rightsassociatedwith citizenshiptoday have been - fromuniversalsuffrage to battledforby socialists, manyothers the civil rightto an education are liberal principles. And it is no accident that wider participation, including community in has been included the of politics, policies some liberal parties, suchas thatof Britain;whereasthe FreiburgProgramof German and of profit liberalsmade systems of industrial codetermination some whichbenefit individualsratherthan organizations sharing oftheir tenets. major the conclusionis inescapable today that the dyNevertheless, a line beyond namicsofcitizenship has crossed, or is about to cross, - that is, the whichit defeatsthe purposewhichset it in motion creation of societies and polities which offerthe greatestlife chancesto thegreatest number. Today, a liberaldefense program is conceivabledesignedto safeguard of citithe beneficialeffects of its the zenshipagainst dangers by perfection.There perversion are so one might argue limitsbeyondwhichequalityof opportunitymust not be pushed in order to maintain differentiated forchoice. So let us have a mixed public-private opportunities schoolsystem by all means,and let us put a limitto the attempt at to create equal opportunities by political action somewhere, the age of eleven for example, or perhaps fifteen. There are of all must not be limits,also, beyondwhich full participation and thus pushed if it is not to immobilizethe political system makeparticipation government may self-defeating. Representative in some of its practicalaspects; but, if have to be reconsidered it should provide for more rather than less chances anything, of leadership. There are limits,finally, beyond which sectoral mustnot be allowed to go so we avoid an ungoverncitizenship
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whichaugurspoverty able fragmentation along with unprotected anarchy. Insistenceon the need forgenerallaws may well lead us to strengthen inclusive social units, not nation-states merely but, forexample,the European Community. but I do not believe I would subscribeto these conclusions, which I have farenough. The developments thattheypenetrate if triedto describeare profoundand serious. Even theyare, in traditions and its society, deflected by specific any givencountry and faultings of historicalexperience,there is every indication that theyare sweepingthe world, its most advanced parts first, is changing but quite possibly otherssoon afterward* Modernity its flavor;indeed, the theme of modernity may well be about themeof history. to fadeawayin favorof a new, as yetundefined in the Daniel Bell speaksof the "communalsociety." Certainly, and historical between Herrschaft Genossenschaft great struggle dare I say: Hobbes and Rousseau? it would seem to be the ratherthan imperative the side of Rousseau, of association latter, which is gaining ground. There is much talk co-ordination, but it is above all the todayabout equality,less about liberty, third and long-ignored battlecryof the FrenchRevolutionwhich - fraternit, as modern seemsto be gainingground or solidarity, it. political languageprefers I do not proposeto go into any closer analysisof such trends at the end of what was intendedto be a somewhatinconclusive analysis. But I would like to conclude by makingthreerelated the main thesis of this paper. points. One is an observation, There are historical forcestoo powerful to be contained;citizenship is one of them. Once a group has achieved its immediate a new group takes up the purpose in the name of citizenship, torch. This process,it seems,in the end leads to the creation of conditions which are not only a far cryfromthose which set it in motion,which is to be expected and desired, but which are liable to rob citizenship of its meaning. There is, in other words,a suicidal strainin The Citizen,a death drive which is evident today. very
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- such metaphorsmust not be - this is my second point But misunderstood.It is rarely trends, any good to bemoan historical find much one and even distasteful however them, may regrettable less to hold up a heroic past against a decadent present. The which I have sketchedmark literallyenormous developments frommany points of view. Societies which kept the progress circumscribed numberofpeople in narrowly overwhelming places, them kind of neither nor any permitting mobility participation into great otherthan servicefor others,have been transformed risks of opportunity, reservoirs with all the insecurities, dangers, thatgo withopenness, but withthe chances, too whichthisoffers. The privilegelost by some is infinitely outweighed by the opportunitiesgained by many,especiallysince the loss of privilegeis relative,that is, not a reductionof actual chances,of generally but a reduction of room formaneuver, of the differential income, in relationto others. One cannot at the same time wish for a of equal citizensin theory and resentits impactwhen it society as S. M. Lipcomesabout in practice a veryintellectual fallacy, setonce pointedout whenhe describedtheyearning of American advocates of democracy forthequiet privileges of Oxfordcolleges. There remains,finally, the task for a new liberalism,one of the future ratherthan defendingabstractprinactivelyshaping ciples of howevergeneral significance. The equality partyhas had its day. In the name of citizenship it has changed the face of our societies, and indeed it will probablycontinue to do so forsometimeto come. We shall see moreof the parallel process of destructuring, ofoverparticipation, and of fragmentation which I have described. The new mood of solidarity whichis beginning to spreadmayin factbe turnedto two ratherdifferent purposes. One is the bleak utopia to which I have alluded several times: of the majorgone sour,Mill's "tyranny Tocqueville's democracy ity,"Weber's prisonof a new dependence,or perhapsthe swing back fromunstructured equalityto crude and total power. But thereare tracesalso of a more attractive image of the future, for the time being: some of the notions equally Utopian possibly
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which Marx held about man in a societywhich was no longer Habermas's idea of and growth-oriented. primarily productionfreecommunication, a growing searchforwaysto turnsolidarity do not know what a liberal to individual purpose. I frankly in detail, but I feel sure of future would look like the image that the time has come for the libertypartyto enter the stage again with force,and to insist that citizenshipis not a goal in but a means towardenlargingthe life chancesof men. itself

Citizenship and Beyond The Social Dynamics of An Idea

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Citizenshipand Beyond: The Social Dynamics/ /BY RALF DAHRENDORF of an Idea

CITIZENSHIP AND BEYOND

CITIZENSHIP AND BEYOND

CITIZENSHIP AND BEYOND

CITIZENSHIP AND BEYOND

York: E. P. Dutton, 1910), p. 316.

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