Unit 3: Citizenship, Diversity and the Public Services

Part 1: citizen, citizenship and diversity a definition

Citizen, citizenship and diversity, in the modern world are terms often used but rarely understood, so for part one I will be describing the meaning of each word. To start then, what is a citizen?  An obedient cog mass-produced for the bourgeoisie, or a bureaucratic safety net entwined together with responsibility and identity. Well to answer it a bit of both, a citizen is a member of a community, were by they are granted protection and rights set out by state. 

This is gained by either being native or naturalized. Furthermore the citizen is required to follow the laws and legislation to the best of their ability or otherwise disciplinary action is taken.

The next word that I will be explaining is citizenship; it is the identification or status of being a native or naturalized member of a country or state. The examples would be that British citizenship is split into six forms of nationality; some were defined in the British Nationality Act 1981. The forms of nationality are:

• British citizenship;
• British overseas citizenship;
• British overseas territories citizenship;
• British national (overseas);
• British protected person; and
• British subject.

(Sourced from the http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/aboutcitizenship/)

The final word is diversity; this is the economic, social, cultural or racial differences that exist in society today and can be seen all around.

(Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/eng_troub_comm_595.gif)

What makes someone a citizen of the UK
To be a British citizen you will have to have follow the many different regulations as seen below.
There are different ways to become a British citizen. The most common is called ‘naturalisation’.
You can apply for British citizenship by naturalisation if:

1. you’re 18 or over.
2. you’re of sound mind.
3. you’re of good character.
4. you’ll continue to live in the UK.
5. you have met the knowledge of English and life in the UK requirements.
6. lived in the UK for at least the 5 years before the date of your application.
7. spent no more than 450 days outside the UK during those 5 years.
8. spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months.
9. been granted indefinite leave to stay in the UK, ie there’s no specific date that you have to leave.
10. had indefinite leave to stay in the UK for the last 12 months.
11. not broken any immigration laws while in the UK.

(Sourced from the https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen)

Sexism

Sexism is the prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination on the basis of sex.an example would be with the specialist sex-crime units in London failed who to investigate and apprehend two serial sex attackers who assaulted hundreds of women. (Sourced from the http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/mar/26/metropolitan-police-sexism-rape)

This would match up with feminist arguments about the sexual divide that still happens, and is a prime example of the inequality between the sexes. Such examples of sexual inequality can be seen in these to tables shown below;

Racist

A racist is a person with a prejudiced ideology that their race is superior to other races. An example of a racist would be Sir William Macpherson the former high court judge, as in one interview he claimed that;

"I'm quite sure I have thought the wrong things even if I haven't said wrong things, particularly perhaps in stereotyping, looking at a young black man with a baseball cap the wrong way round and immediately thinking the worst against him.”

"I would challenge most people to say they haven't at some stage or other been guilty."

(Sourced from the http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/650342.stm)

This example suggests the how tolerance there is within the 21st century, as seen in many cases stereotyping is becoming more and more common despite the supposed increase in immigration.In some instances though there has been an increase in the large number of communities colliding together and integrating as one, in council held events and festivals.      

Institutionalised racism

Institutionalised racism is the racial stereotyping (within a company or institute) because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin.an example of institutionalised racism could be that only 1.5% of fire-fighters were from ethnic minorities and that the fire service might have created a tradition of being 'a white, male-only organisation' and then defended that tradition.

(Sourced from the http://www.lgcplus.com/fire-brigades-guilty-of-institutional-racism/1417694.article)

Homophobia

Homophobia is the fear or hatred to homosexuality and homosexual people.an example would be from policymic.

According to Wharton, Prince Harry defended him against a homophobic attack in a training exercise in Alberta, Canada in 2008. He wrote in the Daily Mail that he was "on track for a battering" at the hands of six soldiers from a rival regiment. Openly gay in the army at 21 years old, Wharton claimed he felt threatened for his life and he asked the Prince, his tank commander, for protection. According to Wharton, Prince Harry responded "Right. I'm going to sort this s--t out once and for all." Wharton said he "will always be grateful to Harry."(Sourced from the http://www.policymic.com/articles/47511/prince-harry-royal-gives-a-lesson-to-homophobic-members-of-the-military-that-they-won-t-forget)

Psychological study into prejudice

Minard (1952) investigated how social norms influence prejudice and discrimination. The behavior of black and white miners in a town in the southern United States was observed, both above and below ground.

Results: Below ground, where the social norm was friendly behavior towards work colleagues, 80 of the white miners were friendly towards the black miners. Above ground, where the social norm was prejudiced behavior by whites to blacks, this dropped to 20.

Conclusion: The white miners were conforming to different norms above and below ground. Whether or not prejudice is shown depends on the social context within which behavior takes place.

Evaluation:  Conformity to social norms, then, may offer an explanation for prejudice in some cases. At the same time, norms change over time, so this can only go some way towards explaining prejudice.

Why be a good citizen?
Qualities	benefits
There are many qualities people should follow to be a good citizen but for this section I will summarize this finding up into 4 sections. 1; be the knight! A good citizen will find that by being chivalrous, polite and good spirited the battle is already won.  2; be an ecowarrior, don’t drop litter, ride to work as a clean environment means a clean mind. 3; be a bureaucrat to the law. 4; be a volunteer help out  to those who need assistance, as a voluntary position for a charity or company.	1; when chivalrous, polite and good spirited people will not only recognize you a good person but as somebody that can be trusted. This balance of trust will allow easier access to be able to achieve, more good citizen deeds. In addition children (who are the future) tend to look up at ups members for examples of good morals.  2;in going green the benefits to society is that Smog, Acid Rain and Poverty will all be reduced. This should then lead to a series of events such as less cars on the road(less road accidents )and less poverty (less theft). 3; this speaks for its self. If everyone behaved then there would be the complete state of utopia, as far as citizenship is concerned. 4;there are many reasons to why people volunteer such example include, Make a difference to the lives of others, A chance to socialise and finally Enhancing a CV.
advantages	Disadvantages
There are many benefits to why people should be a good citizen are, without question becoming more and more important. An example is with the current conservative-libdem government, as their policy's (manly concerning privatization)mean that ups employees are losing their jobs.It is at this point that the good citizen steps in, as there is a high need for law abiding citizen to apply for voluntary positions.such as the special police and the territorial army.	The disadvantages are that; ·         You may become institutionalized. ·         You may not make many friends ·         You get threatened or hurt.