‘Living Rights’, rights claims, performative citizenship and young people – the right to vote in the Scottish independence referendum

Sanghera, G., Botterill, K. , Hopkins, P. and Arshad, R. (2018) ‘Living Rights’, rights claims, performative citizenship and young people – the right to vote in the Scottish independence referendum. Citizenship Studies, 22(5), pp. 540-555. (doi: 10.1080/13621025.2018.1484076)

Abstract

This paper examines the rights claims-making that young people engaged in during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum when the right to vote was extended to 16- and 17-year-olds for the first time in the UK. Understanding citizenship and rights claims-making as performative, we draw on the novel idea of ‘living rights’ to explore how young people ‘shape what these rights are – and become – in the social world’. They are co-existent and situated within the everyday lives of young people, and transcend the traditional idea that rights are merely those that are enshrined in domestic and/or international law. We explore the complex and contested nature of rights claims that were made by young people as ‘active citizens’ in the lead up to the referendum to illustrate how the rights claims-making by young people is bound up with the performativity of citizenship that entails identity construction, political subjectivity (that challenges adult-centric approaches) and social justice.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This paper is based on research that was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (AH/K000594/1).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Botterill, Dr Kate
• Authors: Sanghera, G., Botterill, K., Hopkins, P., and Arshad, R.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Journal Name: Citizenship Studies
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1362-1025
• ISSN (Online): 1469-3593
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Citizenship Studies 22(5):540-555
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License