The State, Citizenship and Rights

Building on the themes of difference, identity and inequality in the last chapter, we begin this chapter with a consideration of how our lives may be shaped by what we refer to as the ‘state’. For instance, what happens when people experience ill health and need to receive (or provide) care, become financially insecure, or face inequality or discrimination due to their characteristics, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation? While they can turn to their families, communities, and the voluntary sector for support or redress (Chapter 5), this chapter is concerned with the role of the state in mediating these experiences and in shaping people’s lives. It is concerned with the political organisation of the state, and how this defines our freedoms and entitlements, and our obligations to the state and to society at large. Compared to Chapter 4, this chapter is more conceptual and high-altitude, establishing fundamental ideas around what the state is and what it does from a more generic standpoint. Chapter 4 is more grounded in the actual reality of how the state intervenes (or not), into the materiality of society and into the lives of those who need it most, where the relationship may become obligatory.