Ett märkligt adjektiv på en medborgare
En intervjustudie av det praktiska medborgarskapet som identitet och ideal
The aim of this essay is to explore the lived citizenship and its ideal. First, the form and expression of citizenship practice and ideal is explored through a qualitative interwiev study of ten citizens in the southern suburbs of Stockholm. The perception and expectations of the nature of citizenship, presented by the informants, is then compared to their citizen ideal, as well as to the ideal presented and promoted by the Swedish government. The point of departure is theory of democracy. The essay calls attention to an observed lack of empirical studies in the field of deliberative theory of democracy as well as studies that more broadly bring the theory down to empirical earth. The method used here strives towards combining and interacting the theoretical and academic debate with empirical data of citizen experience. The result shows that the informants? perceptions of their citizenship is largely liberal, though with participatory features. The citizenship ideal is closer to, but not in tune with, the more active and participatory democracy promoted by the Swedish government. The deliberative ideas, which have had a big influence on recent democracy projects in Sweden and generally, are not found to be supported by the informants.