TOWARDS A NEW SOCIAL POLITICS - CITIZENSHIP AND REFLEXIVITY IN LATE MODERNITY

There is little agreement about the meaning of citizenship in the rapi dly changing social, economic and political conditions of late moderni ty. This article examines three accounts of citizenship-state-centred, pluralist and post-structuralist-and argues that none offers an entir ely convincing understanding of the idea suited to the fragmented cond itions of contemporary social politics. Instead, it is important to mo ve away from these accounts and consider citizenship as a reflexive co ndition of 'defensive engagement'. Citizenship becomes a variegated so cial form concerned with the differential negotiation of social change as social and political actors struggle to create new identities and solidarities across a range of possible settings in an increasingly fr actured public sphere. This interpretation has implications for our un derstanding of social inclusion and exclusion, as the conclusion to th is article suggests.