New Labour and the Ideological Fantasy of the Good Citizen

This paper will seek to demonstrate how New Labour's incorporation of a particular substantive notion of citizenship, within their public discourse, has been a factor in sustaining their electoral success, by gaining popular support and legitimacy, due to their particular ideological discursive construction of the bad citizen. It is argued this discursive construction manipulates, within a significant part of the electorate, a pre-ideological enjoyment that is structured in fantasy.

Over the last eight years New Labour personnel have widely articulated a particular concept of citizenship that is arguably a central element of New Labour's hegemonic project. A relatively explicit articulation of this concept of citizenship was made in a speech by Tony Blair in July 1993 (Blair, “New Britain”). The speech was entitled “New Community, New Individualism.” This is a passage from this text: “A modern notion of citizenship gives rights but demands obligations, shows respect but wants it back, grants opportunity but insists on responsibilities. So the purpose of economic and social policy should be to extend opportunity, remove the underlying causes of social alienation, but it should also take tough measures to ensure that chances that are given are taken up” (218). Within this quote, citizenship is nominalized as an actor that gives, demands, shows, wants, grants and insists. The participation of the public in deciding the terms of this conception of citizenship is absenced by this nominalization, as is the state, which is implicitly present in the statement as the agency that is able to enforce responsibility. However the use of, “demands,” indicates that obligations are to be taken seriously. It is an example of a discourse of tough authority, which also surfaces in the statement in the forms of, “insists,” and “take tough measures.” Citizenship is also posited as a singular entity in this speech, thereby absenting other, potentially c