Abstract

As both citizens-in-waiting and citizens-now, children and young people are all undergoing some form of citizenship transition. In light of the apparent current ‘civic deficit’ of youth in western nations, young citizens in transition are often positioned as vulnerable and at risk of disengagement or radicalisation. This transitional position opens the door for policy makers and teachers to encourage young people to perform and embody certain types of ‘acceptable’ civic responses and emotions to align with the ‘good’ citizen. Drawing on Hochschild’s concept of ‘emotional labour’ and Bourdieu’s concept of ‘capital’, this paper examines the emotional labour required by young people to perform the ‘emotional capital’ that holds symbolic value in educational spaces in light of the growing governance roles schools play on behalf of the state.

Drawing from research in five New Zealand schools, this paper considers how the spatially and socially constructed nature of ‘legitimate’ citizenship is in turn mediated and negotiated by both citizenship education teachers and students. The paper draws attention to the psychosocial aspects of emotional capital and habitus (Reay, 2015) and how this plays out within intergenerational and transitional spaces such as classrooms and upon the experiences of young citizens.