Individual and community

Author: Chu Songyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: This book attempts to establish an interpretive perspective for citizenship theory by examining the historical evolution of citizenship. It primarily explores the development of citizenship from its origins in ancient Greece, where it was confined to small-scale groups, to the modern era, characterized by universal equality. This process represents the transformation of ancient citizenship, which was morally supreme, into modern citizenship, which is materialistic. The book also provides a brief outlook on the future of citizenship in the era of globalization. Additionally, we hope this discussion can offer a point of convergence in terms of institutions and ideas for understanding the relationship between the state and the individual. The book is divided into seven chapters.
Chapter 1 briefly outlines the explanatory models of the definition of citizenship and related concepts, arguing that citizenship should first be regarded as a historically rooted tradition and a practically oriented institution, and proposes a general concept of citizenship.
Chapter 2 analyzes ancient citizenship based on moral supremacy, using ancient Greece and Rome as its backdrop.
Chapter 3 examines medieval citizenship, which was primarily characterized by its transitional and dual nature. The duality is reflected in the coexistence of Christian citizenship of God's city and earthly citizenship, while the transition is seen in the preservation and subtle transformation of ancient citizenship in medieval cities. This laid the foundation for the emergence of modern citizenship, driven by the bourgeoisie's pursuit of material interests.
Chapter 4 explores the four main conditions for the evolution of ancient citizenship into modern citizenship: 1) political conditions; 2) social conditions; 3) ideological conditions; and 4) the emergence of the bourgeois public sphere.
Chapter 5 elaborates on the three main models of the early development of modern citizenship: the British model, which evolved through top-down compromise with individualistic characteristics; the American model, which inherited British local individualism and developed a federal-state dual citizenship through universal revolution; and the French model, which evolved from bottom-up participation with collectivist characteristics.
Chapter 6 summarizes and analyzes the development and mechanisms of modern citizenship, concluding that modern citizenship gradually eliminates property restrictions attached to it, making it an equal status independent of property. The development process is, to some extent, a transformation of members of social-political communities from subjects of rule to rulers. Citizens continuously raise claims for rights, becoming the intrinsic driving mechanism for the development of citizenship, but modern citizenship exhibits a materialistic feature of moral loss.
Chapter 7 discusses the future direction of citizenship in the context of globalization, arguing that citizenship has expanded in content to include rights such as participation, gender, culture, and public spirit, and is evolving toward a coexistence of universality and difference in the era of globalization.