'Marshall-ing' Social and Political Citizenship: Towards a Unified Conception of Citizenship

Marshall's work on citizenship has become a cornerstone of most contemporary discussions of citizenship. Yet, in this article, it is argued that his work is frequently misunderstood, or misinterpreted. I argue that Marshall presents a normative argument that citizenship should be seen as a unified but dynamic concept. The unified nature of citizenship should not, however, obscure the tensions within the concept. These tensions are negotiated, so that citizenship should be seen as a complex relationship where tensions and webs of interdependence co-exist. This, it is argued, is an important theoretical framework with which to consider a issues such as the impact of the restructuring of welfare.