Dutiful or actualising citizens: Rural secondary school students’ perception of citizenship

There is concern in public discourse and academic literature about the health of democratic systems and particularly the role of young people in democratic societies. Research indicates that young people are more likely to have access to and are engaged in lifestyle politics and minimal, personally responsible citizenship, than maximal, justice-oriented activities. This minimal engagement is problematic, particularly because the world faces complex social-justice issues which require young people to have the capabilities to challenge the status quo. One significant factor that shapes young people’s citizenship, is the way young people conceptualise their role as citizens. In this paper we contribute to understanding young people’s citizenship conceptualisations by focusing on a context that is often overlooked in the literature namely secondary school students from rural communities. We argue that the unique structure of rural communities impacts young people’s citizen conceptualisations by shaping their access to and perspectives on citizenship, which can add valuable nuances to the debate on young people’s heterogeneous experiences of citizenship. Using qualitative case study evidence in form of focus groups (n=26) and interviews (n=21) with secondary school students aged 13-17 in rural and suburban areas in Germany, we explore how secondary school students conceptualise their role as citizens, the role rurality plays in their citizen conceptualisations and how their conceptualisations influence their uptake of citizenship activities. Findings suggest participants overall preferred dutiful citizen ideals such as voting but could not be classified as citizen types due to their heterogeneous perceptions of citizen roles. Rurality influenced participants’ citizen(ship) conceptualisations, particularly in terms of access to citizenship activities, perceived acceptable behaviour and citizen repertoires.