1st Edition

From 'People' to 'Citizen' Democracy’s Must Take Road

By Dipankar Gupta Copyright 2018
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    From ‘People’ to ‘Citizen’ brings together social theory with policy practice to enlarge our understanding of the difference that democracy makes to the life of a nation. Unlike nationalism, democracy takes our attention away from the past to the future by focusing on the specific concerns of ‘citizenship’. Historical victories or defeats, blood and soil are now nowhere as relevant as the creation of a foundational base where individuals have equal, and quality, access to health, education, and even urban services. The primary consideration, therefore, is on empowering ‘citizens’ as a common category and not ‘people’ of any specific community or class. When citizens precede all other considerations, the notion of the ‘public’ too gets its fullest expression. Differences between citizens are not denied, in fact encouraged, but only after achieving a basic unity first. This book argues that the call of citizenship not only advances democracy, but social science as well.





    Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

    1. Being a Citizen: From Passions to Fraternity 2. From Nationalism to Citizenship: Majority Concessions and Democratic Consensus 3. Planning for the Poor: Limits of the Targeted Approach 4. Threshold Markers: Citizens or Beneficiaries 5. Skilling Citizens: Raising the Human Resource Base 6. Beyond Interest Enclave Politics: Civic Consumerism and Citizenship Aspirations 7. Space and Non Space in City Master Plans: Urban Utilities and Citizen Membership 8. Civil Society and Democracy: Bringing back the Citizen 9. Social Science and Democracy: An Elective Affinity 10. Citizenship as a Social Relation: A Critique of Multiple Modernity

    Biography

    Dipankar Gupta is one of India’s leading sociologists and public intellectuals. He is a former Professor of Sociology, at The Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi and Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was also the Leverhulme Professor in London School of Economics, and Fulbright Professor in the University of Massachusetts.