Citizenship has become prominent in political discourse in Britain since the late 1980s. Its inherent flexibility as a concept that encompasses both rights and responsibilities has allowed citizenship to be employed by both the left and right of the political spectrum. The conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and 1997 championed the notion of the “active citizen,” who, empowered by the “rolling back of the state” and the marketization of society, promoted by wide-scale privatization, was encouraged to take greater personal responsibility for themselves and their families. More recently, the Labour government, in power since 1997, has introduced a number of reforms, such as devolution for Scotland and Wales, human rights legislation, and the introduction of compulsory citizenship education in schools, to counter what Tony Blair has called an “undeveloped citizenship” in Britain (New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country [London, 1997]).

As the authors of Citizenship in Britain note, what has been missing in these debates has been a focus on how ordinary citizens understand and practice citizenship. Based on extensive survey and interview data carried out in 2000 and 2001, this book aims to fill this gap and as such makes a significant contribution to our understanding of citizenship in contemporary Britain. This volume presents a wealth of interesting and insightful material into the beliefs and attitudes Britons have toward government, society, and their fellow citizens. The extensive statistical data on which the book is based is presented in a clear and concise way, and the book is well written and accessible throughout. In the first chapter a useful, if at times overly brief, overview of the concept of citizenship is provided.

Paradoxically, one of the primary conclusions of this study is that the current academic interest in citizenship results from a growing disengagement with traditional political institutions. Charles Pattie, Patrick Seyd, and Paul Whiteley note the worrying lack of trust citizens have in politicians and politics in general, with only one in three respondents expressing satisfaction with the workings of Britain democracy (40). Generally citizens feel that government is unresponsive to them as individuals, they lack a willingness to engage in time-consuming political activities such as standing for office, and political engagement is dominated by “the most highly educated, the rich, and those from the top occupational echelons” (109). Despite a general disenchantment with Britain's political institutions, there is a reluctance to identify strongly with the European Union as a meaningful alternative source of citizenship, and Britons still feel a strong attachment to the nation as a focus of their loyalty.

The findings of the Citizen Audit upon which this book is based are not, however, entirely negative. Levels of trust between citizens and a willingness to honor basic civic duties such as obeying the law and paying taxes are high, and “a sense of civic duty runs deep among the British” (48). By adopting a broad understanding of citizenship and politics, including citizens’ interaction with health providers and educational institutions, this study finds generally high levels of satisfaction among citizens with their experiences of, and their personal influence upon, government regulated services.

At times, however, the authors appear a little too optimistic about the state of citizenship in Britain. For example, the authors contend that very basic knowledge about British politics, such as the fact that 91 percent of respondents are aware of the age when voters can first cast a vote, amounts to a “relatively high” level of political knowledge of the working of parliamentary elections (89). Such conclusions indicate just how low current expectations are of citizens, and elsewhere the authors indeed acknowledge that “levels of political knowledge in Britain are not that high” (155).

One of the flaws of this book is its failure to consider in detail the structural reasons for citizens’ disengagement with the political mainstream. It is argued, for example, that “many low-status and poorly motivated individuals want the state to enforce rights on their behalf, while at the same time they do not want to participate” (184). Such a contentious point needs to be placed into the wider context of large-scale material inequality in Britain and the failure of successive governments to pursue policies, such as enhancing local democracies, that might invoke a greater sense of civic responsibility that cuts across socioeconomic divides. Moreover, the increasingly individualistic nature of citizenship identified by the authors, as illustrated by a growing preference for individual acts of participation such as signing a petition, as opposed to support for more traditional political mechanisms such as political parties, suggests the need for a more radical overhaul of Britain's political system than is suggested in the conclusions of this book. The authors fail to critique Britain's antiquated political system, with the continuation of the House of Lords, a first past the post the system in general elections, and an unwritten constitution that places power in the hands of an increasingly autocratic prime minister. With a turnout of just 61 percent, the recent 2005 general election is a stark reminder that Britain's political system is failing to engage significant numbers of citizens at even the relatively low level of engagement entailed by voting in national elections.

Perhaps the most important argument of this book is that citizenship is not a settled element of the political landscape but is a contested and dynamic concept that can be reshaped and radicalized by both political elites and, in certain circumstances, ordinary citizens. The increasingly individualized nature of Britain's population, however, leaves much room for further reflection on how the necessary collectivist aspects of citizenship, such as a common willingness to participate in the maintenance of shared social and political institutions, can be reinvigorated in the future.

This book deserves to be widely read by those seeking a thorough, empirical overview of the nature of contemporary political culture in Britain. As an account of the beliefs and attitudes of ordinary citizens it is an original and valuable piece of work.