ABSTRACT
As previously mentioned, for the Idealists, the concept of citizenship is based on a notion of the common good; various groups and interests can identify themselves in the common good, and it forms the link between different social classes. Citizenship is viewed as the awareness of the common good and the purposes of human life as incorporated into the institutional forms of society. The common good is recognised in the possibility to develop one’s own capacities to the best of one’s abilities and to allow others to do likewise. Therefore, in a rather circular way, it is recognised in the very fact of having a state and a community. In this perspective, citizenship is an active, community-oriented practice (Vincent 1986, 60).
