Wealth, Citizenship and Responsibility: The Views of “Better Off” Citizens in the UK

Abstract

The retheorisation of citizenship since the 1980s has been marked by an emphasis on responsibility over rights, and a focus on poor citizens. The article discusses why an interest in wealthy citizens is timely, including the argument in the UK that the citizenship responsibilities of those with high incomes should be expressed through the notion of active citizenship, not solely by paying tax. Findings are presented from empirical research in the UK, based on in-depth interviews with better off citizens. It is argued that wealthy citizens have benefited from a reduced obligation to pay taxation but there has not been a corresponding acceptance of active citizenship. Moreover, respondents' actual engagement with active citizenship and the expression of responsibility through an essentially individual ethos of economic independence promote a conception of citizenship that is exclusionary rather than inclusive. The research does not lead to an argument for the diminution of citizenship responsibility, but that there is a need for greater interest in the position of wealthy, not just poor, citizens.

Acknowledgements

My thanks to the three anonymous referees for their very helpful comments.

Notes

¹ The research formed part of a project entitled “Local taxation, wealth and citizenship”, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council under award reference RES-000-22-0597.

² While the concern of this article is with social class, it should be borne in mind throughout that issues of gender and ethnicity are of significant importance in relation to community and voluntary work.