European inventory of
societal values of culture

Stevenson - Cultural Citizenship in the ‘Cultural’ Society

Stevenson, N. (2003) Cultural Citizenship in the ‘Cultural’ Society: A Cosmopolitan Approach. Citizenship Studies, 7(3): 331-348.

This article seeks to develop a model of cultural citizenship suitable for a cosmopolitan age. A variety of themes and issues are raised: the continued importance of democratic notions of ‘civil’ society, questions of cultural exclusion, the impact of the development of the media of mass communication, globalisation and identity politics. In particular, the argument stresses the continued importance of Habermas and Foucault to ‘cultural’ understandings of citizenship. In the middle section, the author discusses competing definitions of cultural citizenship offered by Will Kymlicka, Joke Hermes and Tony Bennett. These authors are discussed due to the emphasis they place on cultural questions and their relation to citizenship. However, while offering important contributions for debate, they are found to be limited in respect of cosmopolitan understandings of culture and society. Finally, the author seeks to link some of the themes suggested by Habermas and Foucault to a discussion of the forms of education that are appropriate for modern citizenship.