ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the complex ways in which young people of different ethnic backgrounds construct representations of citizenship in Italy. Based on a psychosocial perspective, it describes the various shared representations of citizenship amongst young people and illustrates how they are connected through personal and collective experiences of participation in everyday life, and the need to cope with their marginalized status. The chapter presents a short introduction on the debate about citizenship from a psychosocial perspective and a brief review of the citizenship literature specifically regarding people of immigrant background living in Italy. Citizenship regimes serve to define who is entitled to hold the nationality of a given country and are based on either jus sanguinisor jus soli, or a combination of both. The legal or admittance dimension can be articulated through two subdomains: one deals with rights and opportunities, deriving from legal citizenship; the other deals with duties, and what is expected from good citizens.
