Britishness, belonging and citizenship

Prabhat, Devyani

doi:10.1332/9781447344506

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…There is evidence that voting is one of the reasons why immigrants naturalise for those who are most politically engaged. A group of Prabhat's (2018) respondents told her they wanted to acquire British citizenship to be able to vote. Stewart and Mulvey (2011) also find that among Scottish refugees political representation was a key motive for citizenship application.…”

Section: Citizenship and Political Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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British and disengaged: national identification and political engagement before and after naturalisation

Donnaloja

2020

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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Empirical work has documented the socio-economic characteristics of immigrants who naturalise and the effects of naturalisation on labour market outcomes. Political engagement and national identity are, however, salient but understudied dimensions of citizenship. Using two waves of the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study, I investigate immigrants' national identification and political engagement before and after naturalisation. I find that before naturalisation those who acquire citizenship are more likely to identify as British, be familiar with the British political system and are less interested in politics compared to those who do not. I also find that after naturalisation, the importance of new citizens give to their British identity is higher than before, but their interest in politics is lower. I argue that citizenship retains its role as a marker of national identity for immigrants and that the negative association between naturalisation and interest in politics for immigrants is compatible with the low political engagement of the British-born population. I suggest that the further decline in interest in politics following naturalisation may be explained by immigrants' disillusionment with a political narrative that fails to include them. I reflect on the implications of my findings for the conceptualisation of citizenship, for policy, and for future research.

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Section: Citizenship and Political Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…process of naturalisation, those who already feel and are British may resent such non-acceptance and therefore dissociate from the political system that fosters it (Prabhat 2018).…”

Section: National Identification and Political Engagement After Citizenship Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%