Reflections on youth citizenship after the age of entitlement: problems and possibilities

During a budget speech in 2014, then Australian treasurer Joe Hockey proclaimed an end to the age of entitlement. Hockey’s proclamation provoked the authors to reflect on what entitlement means in relation to youth citizenship. Complex and contested, citizenship is associated with rights and other entitlements, as well as entwined with identity and experiences of local, national and global membership and belonging. New ways of thinking about citizenship are emerging that challenge the traditional nexus of nation-state and citizenship and yet the nation-state remains important – increasingly so in the era of US President Donald Trump and Brexit. Rather than being just about membership and rights, citizenship can be thought of as an ensemble of acts, affects, experiences, rights and responsibilities that have geographical, temporal, affective and moral dimensions. Drawing from the authors’ research over the last decade, we reflect on these dimensions of youth citizenship and the implications for social educators.