Citizenship in Nativist Times

Presenting a novel multidimensional framework of citizenship confronting the urgent challenges of populism and nativism.

Over the past two decades, debates about diversity, belonging, and feeling at home have intensified significantly. A particularly prominent argument posits that growing diversity threatens societal cohesion, eroding citizens’ commitment to ideals such as solidarity and justice. Similarly widespread is the claim that various societal divides—between urban and rural populations, politicians and constituents, cosmopolitans and communitarians—are widening rapidly, leaving many feeling abandoned and disillusioned.

As perceptions of deepening divides gain traction, citizenship has become a central site of political struggle. Populist and nativist forces increasingly dictate who counts as a ‘real’ citizen, often undermining democratic principles, the rule of law, and the welfare state. Citizenship—with all its perplexities—is the central focus of this collection. Through case studies and theoretical reflections, essays by well-established international experts explore the tensions and intersections among the political, social, cultural, and academic dimensions of citizenship. From rights and representation to social welfare and public discourse, the contributions question how citizenship is being restricted, reimagined, or reclaimed—and by whom.

Engaging with current debates, this volume is essential reading on democracy, justice, and belonging amid populism, nativism, and (perceived) societal fragmentation.

Foreword
Michael Ignatieff

Citizenship in Nativist Times
Menno Hurenkamp and Tamar de Waal

‘I Have Consistently Found Differences to Be Smaller’ Interview With Jan Willem Duyvendak
Menno Hurenkamp and Tamar de Waal

Part 1. Nativism and Nostalgia

Nativism Past and Present: A View from the United States
Nancy Foner

God Terms and the Fragility of Liberalism
James M. Jasper

Citizenship, Nativism and Public Space: A Plea for the City
Philip Kasinitz

The Migrant, the Family, and the Rule of Law: On Migration Politics and Authoritarianism
Saskia Bonjour

Homogeneity, Harmony, Hierarchy: Nativist Nostalgia in the Netherlands
Josip Kešić

Part 2. Promises and Pitfalls of Citizenship

In Search of a New Culture of Citizenship
Timothey Stacey

Time for Citizenship: Temporal Practices of Migrants in the Netherlands
Minke Hajer, Zana Chadud Cosac, and Christian Bröer

Can Citizenship Break with its Past?
Rogier van Reekum

Between Stigma and Moral Comfort : Engaging Men in Violence Prevention in Times of Sexual Nationalism
Mischa Dekker

Racialised Assimilationism, Cultural Citizenship, and Migrants’ Self-Denial of Racist Experience
Yannick Coenders and Sonia Planson

Informality and Everyday Citizenship : Belonging Through ‘Tolerantie’ and ‘Égalité’ in Marginalised Neighbourhoods in the Netherlands and France
Simone van de Wetering

Resilience and the Politics of Citizenship
Stefan Dudink

Part 3. Politics of Home

The Lost Home: Occupation, Domicide and the Uncanny
Ido de Haan

Hospitality, Xenophobia and the Politics of Home: Insights from Greece
Apostolos Andrikopoulos

Roots Are Made Not Given: On Home As a Verb
Bernike Pasveer

Home as a Sociological Matter : Promises and Pitfalls of a Concept for Majority–Minority Relations, and Beyond
Paolo Boccagni

Part 4. Moral and Emotional Divides

Reflections on the Experiences of “Homing”, Cultural Intimacy, and Recognition for the Study of Symbolic Boundaries and Inequality
Michèle Lamont

Can a Second-Class Citizen Ever Belong?
Halleh Ghorashi

Polarisation Between Distance and Proximity Ethics
Evelien Tonkens and Tsjalling Swierstra

(Un)Successful Crisis Mobilisation: Migration Versus Climate Change
Thijs van Dooremalen

Part 5. Social Institutions and the Welfare State

Institutions, Belonging, and the Making of Citizenship in Contexts
Christophe Bertossi

Social Citizenship in Nativist Times : Is the Welfare State Under Pressure From Migration?
Monique Kremer

History in the Making of Contemporary Social Work
Thomas Kampen

Frontline Workers as Citizenship Whisperers
Imrat Verhoeven

Some Notes on the Citizenship of Children and Immigrants : Culturalisation, Civilisation
Rineke van Daalen

Home’s Best: Dutch Discourse on Care and Independent Living
David J. Bos

Part 6. Public Sociology

Reactionary Social Media
Justus Uitermark

Three days in September: Belonging in academia in times of nativist attacks
Olav Velthuis

Political Freedom Rights for Citizens and Contemporary Tolerance
Kees Schuyt

The Engaged Sociologist : Three Lessons From W.E.B. Du Bois on the Practice of Scholarship in Times of Fascism
Jacob Boersema

About the Authors

Jan Willem Duyvendak

Menno Hurenkamp

Menno Hurenkamp is Professor of Democracy at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht.

Tamar de Waal

Tamar de Waal is Associate Professor in Legal Philosophy and Citizenship at the Amsterdam Law School, University of Amsterdam.

Apostolos Andrikopoulos

Christophe Bertossi

Paolo Boccagni

Jacob Boersma

Saskia Bonjour

David Bos

Christian Bröer

Yannick Coenders

Rineke van Daalen

Mischa Dekker

Thijs van Dooremalen

Stefan Dudink

Nancy Foner

Halleh Ghorashi

Ido de Haan

Minke Hajer

James Jasper

Thomas Kampen

Philip Kasinitz

Josip Kesic

Monique Kremer

Michele Lamont

Rogier van Reekum

Kees Schuyt

Evelien Tonkens

Justus Uitermark

Imrat Verhoeven

Olav Velthuis

Simone van de Wetering

Timothy Stacey

Bernike Pasveer

Tsjalling Swierstra