ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we advance a social psychological approach to citizenship. We pay particular attention to the dynamics of constructing citizenship and to the relationship between state policies and lay practices of claims-making. The chapter is structured in four parts. In the first section, we outline a definition of citizenship that is in line with a dynamic social psychological framework. In the second section, we propose a social psychological framework of citizenship that acknowledges the interconnection between citizenship regimes and lay citizens’ perspectives. To illustrate our approach, in the third section we discuss a study on Greek citizenship following new legislation that opened up citizenship to the children of migrants for the first time in Greek history. We conclude the chapter with a summary and some ideas about future avenues of research in the social psychology of citizenship.
