‘citizenship Was An Attempt To Forge A Link Between The Individual And The Authorities.’ (b. Beaven And J. Griffiths, 2008). Discuss. [tripos, 2013]

"Citizenship was an attempt to forge a link between the individual and the authorities.' (B. BEAVEN and J. GRIFFITHS, 2008). Discuss. [TRIPOS, 2013]

Citizenship can be examined in countless spatial and temporal settings, each representing a unique set of practices, relationships, ideals and forces which interact to create citizens. Traditionally, citizenship has most often been broadly used to create a notion of universal rights and responsibilities. Recently, however, academic study of citizenship has questioned this, bringing to attention the subtle differences citizenship creates and challenging the supposedly inclusive nature of the term. Whilst this is largely demonstrated through the study of contemporary issues, such as the insurgence of democratic citizens in the urban peripheries of Sao Paulo (Holsten 2009) or the ways in which young British deaf people express and experience their identities (Skelton and Valentine 2003), there is great value in examining citizenship in the context of the past and using these experiences to shed light on contemporary citizenship practices. Though there are many mentionable moments throughout the history and development of citizenship, perhaps one of the most important of these in the context of British citizenship was the 19th century, a time of significant political and economic reform. As a result, in this essay, I will look at citizenship in the context of the 19th century and examine how Victorian schemes of citizenship attempted to avoid the contentious issues of class inequalities by emphasising the importance of individual self-improvement. I will argue that citizenship was used to keep individual interests in line with the interests of the authorities and ultimately conclude that rather than being an attempt to forge a link, granting citizenship was a vested tactic to allow the continued pursuit of elite interests without the problems of social disturbance.

It is important to clarify two terms in the context of this essay to ensure clarity of argument and avoid confusion. The first, citizenship, is a diverse term with many definitions, interpretations and uses. Examining citizenship in the context of the Victorian era however, sees a central focus being placed on political citizenship, specifically suffrage. Interconnected with the cultural norms of a burgeoning liberal democracy, citizenship during this time was defined by the desirable patterns of behaviour in both public and private spheres, represented by a number of factors, such as marriage and ownership of property. As a result, though there are many forms of citizenship that could be examined, I will specifically study citizenship through the lenses of political citizenship, namely the right to vote during the Victorian 19th century, as I believe that in the context of the question, this form of citizenship is most applicable and relevant when addressing questions regarding the links between individuals and authoritative figures. Authority is another term that needs to be defined. During the Victorian era, authority can, and indeed was often seen, particularly by the working class, to be equatable to the political community and ruling elite. To take part in the political arena and the "public sphere', meant an individual was seen to be well educated, established and in possession of a form of authority and superiority to that of the masses of the working class. Consequently, though authority can be interpreted in many ways - such as rational-legal authority and charismatic authority - it will be examined under the notion of traditional authority, that which derives from long established customs, habits and social structures and is represented by the political community and societal elites. Arguably, this was the predominant form of authority at the time and thus it makes sense to study authority through this lens.

The absence of a legal category of "citizen' during the Victorian era created a critical distinction between subjects and citizens, with all individuals living within the rule of the state and subject to its laws, rules and forces, yet only some being citizens in the sense of those who had the rights within and relation to the state. In many ways, this hierarchical structure of Victorian society and its distinctive version of politics and constitution succeeded in forging a link between authority and individuals within the working class. This can be seen by examining the arguments expressed by the anti-ballot camp during the ballot reforms preceding the Ballot Act of 1972. For example, ballot critics argued that the traditional manner of electors declaring and casting their votes in public created a strong link between the working class and authorities, with public opinion representing a guiding context in which an electorate made his vote. Those granted the right to vote were expected to do so according to collective interests, voting in expression through the 'interest of man…&with the whole body of his fellow citizens' (Grote cited Hadley 2010). Thus it was argued that as there was already a "link' between the electorate and his "constituency', there was no need to grant citizenship to working class individuals. From this argument then, granting citizenship could not have been an attempt to forge a link between the individual and the authorities if such a link already existed.

However, this link was typically seen as a link between class and authorities, rather than individuals and authorities. Political rights were seen to belong to "citizens' or elite socio-economic groups, with all others being confined to the masses of the working class. This division created a prevailing sense of class exclusion and class antagonism, which, along with the economic crisis of the mid-1860s and the expansion of trade unionism, helped sharpen the lines of class conflict, with resulting demonstrations demanding parliamentary reform (Grube 2013). It was soon recognised that the working man was capable of making reasoned decisions, and as an educated, financially provident individual, would not be satisfied with representation, and would demand an individual vote. Class became viewed not only as susceptible for identity construction, but as a means of allowing these identities to be readily politicised. As a result, class divisions were seen to threaten the interests of authority and that of the nation, with class consciousness specifically considered to represent an opposition to authority's interests, (arguably in this context, the interests of the nation and authority are interchangeable, something I will return to later). Thus, to avoid the threat of the discontented masses, and with the shadow of the American and French revolutions looming over the British political elite, the working class was encouraged to abandon class feeling in favour of individuality. Such manoeuvres can be seen as forerunning the policies of the Thatcher government and the contentions that 'There is no such thing as society' (Thatcher cited Keay 1987). Providing individuals with citizenship allowed them to move away from pursuing objectives in the interest of their extensive class, to voting in the interest of the nation. Individuality in this sense was seen in opposition to class, with an attempt to replace the shared identity emanating from class with the shared identity of the nation. Class membership was to sacrifice itself for the cause of national identity, within which the extensive plurality of individual interests did not compete with those of the nation. Politicians, for example Edmond Beales, campaigned for such extension of voting rights and granting manhood suffrage, arguing that such changes would see the unification of all classes in the interest of the nation as a whole (Hall 2000). In practice, this meant fostering a perception of oneself in national, rather than class terms, and being encouraged to adopt middle-class capitalist practices and, more importantly, desires. From this, granting citizenship can be viewed as a way of ridding damaging and limiting class politics rather than forging a link between the individual and authorities.

There was however much worry that citizenship would be granted to individuals not fit for the responsibilities of political power. The concern was that uneducated individuals who displayed inappropriate desires, would vote in an irresponsible way and the large numbers of voters risked undercutting those interests of authorities. Additionally, granting citizenship risked allowing an individual to feel independent. Individual independence was to be avoided as independence from social control meant that economic needs and desires considered appropriate by authorities had not been internalised (Gilbert 2007). To make the individual into a good citizen, it was therefore necessary to teach him or her to desire appropriately, for example desire for marriage, financial security and upward mobility for one's family. In a liberal society, "fit' behaviours had to originate in individual choices rather than in coercion, and thus social outreach could not simply be a matter of giving information, but of educating and managing desire. Preparation for citizenship came to be seen as shaping the environments required to foster a natural and healthy body and mind, which would lead to a natural and proper vote, that is, a vote for the ruling classes. John Stuart Mill, for example, saw citizenship as a prerequisite for the cultivated, intelligent and morally aware individual and their self-fulfilment, but saw basic education as a prerequisite for suffrage (Hadley 2010). To act as an individual was to thus act in accordance with the values desirable in an increasingly capitalistic state. However, the desire and need to educate the individual in the correct ways to vote, suggests that citizenship was not an attempt to forge a link between the individual and the authorities, but instead an attempt to influence and educate an individual to vote in a certain way. Had "a link' been the prevailing aim of citizenship, then arguably, there would have been no need for such education.

Thus, rather than being seen as an attempt to forge a link between the individual and the authorities, citizenship can be seen as a type of high political manoeuvring (Hadley 2010), with the "correct interests' dictated to the working class originating from, and keeping in line with, the interests of the authorities. Whilst there was indeed a significant integration of the working class into politics, this was a politics that held the integrity of the nation, its interests, and hierarchical organised relations of class, gender and race of greatest importance. It may be argued, as Mills (1956) does, that the best interests of the nation are determined by authorities and elite classes. In this context, "national interests' and "authority interests' appear to be synonymous. Indeed, throughout the literature on citizenship during the Victorian era, the words "nation' and "authority' are used interchangeably. Thus, any link that was a consequence of citizenship was, debatably, an illegitimate one, created in the best interests of authorities. The ultimate aim of granting citizenship was to ensure that individuals would no longer pursue interests in accordance with "threatening class interests', but would pursue and vote accordingly with "educated interests' that ultimately benefitted authorities' commitments as represented under the guise of the nation. If citizenship was granted with the aim of establishing a link between the individual and the authorities, then arguably, citizenship would have been extended to all individuals rather than drawing a line between those endowed with the necessary capacities for reason and those who were not. Citizenship was granted to distinct types of working class individuals, and this itself is suggestive of an ulterior motive. Ultimately, the recognition of an individual as a citizen rested upon specific political conditions, and thus suggested that granting citizenship was prompted by political motivations and not by a desire to forge a link between the individual and the authorities.

As argued in this paper, citizenship was closely tied to authorities' attempts to stave off social decay, and to some extent, revolution (as argued by reformers such as Jeremy Bentham), whilst permitting authorities, under the guise of national interests, to continue pursuing their objectives. The risk of social disruption as a result of class conflict required a move away from the links between class and authority to links between individuals and authority. This was done by granting citizenship to individuals, however, this move risked undermining the interests of authorities and "the nation', and so there was a need to educate such individuals in appropriate desires. This suggests that citizenship was not an attempt to forge a link between the individual and the authorities but rather was part of a series of political developments which took place to ensure the interests of authorities and political elites could be maintained without social, economic and political turmoil. Whilst there are many other valid arguments that are put forward to explain the granting of citizenship during this time - related to law, taxation, defence of the nation and moral justifications - it can be said that citizenship was as a commitment to the production of a crucial type of liberal individual, who pursued interests in line with the nation and societal elites.

References

Gilbert, P. (2007) The Citizen's Body: Desire, Health and the Social in Victorian England (Columbus: Ohio State University Press), particularly chapters 1 and 2. Geography P.1h‐&224. UL 334:2.c.200.431. This is particularly useful for question 1.

Grube, D. (2013) At the Margins of Victorian Britain: Politics, Immorality and Britishness in the Nineteenth Century (London: I.B. Tauris)

Hadley, E. (2010) Living Liberalism: Practical Citizenship in Mid‐&Victorian Britain (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)

Hall, C. (2000) 'The nation within and without,' in C. Hall, K. McClelland and J. Rendall (eds.) Defining the Victorian Nation: Class, Race, Gender and the Reform Act of 1867 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Holsten, J. (2009) Insurgent Citizenship: Disjunctions of Democracy and Modernity in Brazil. Princeton University Press

Keay, D. (1987) Woman's Own, 31 October 1987, pp. 8–&10

Mills, W. C. (1956) The Power Elite Oxford University Press, U.S.A.& New Ed edition

Skelton, T. and Valentine, G., 2003a. "It feels like being Deaf is normal': an exploration into the complexities of defining D/deafness and young D/deaf people's identities. The Canadian geographer, 47 (4), 451–&466.