ABSTRACT
Many studies of citizenship have tended to emphasize the various ways in which people actively engage with the state or other political communities through democratic processes, active citizenship, local resistance and activism. Yet most people live out their lives without participating in these kinds of political or civic acts (MacKian 1995). W. H. Auden’s poem ‘The Unknown Citizen’ (Box 6.1) charts some of the ways in which identity as a citizen is shaped (and lost) by various everyday practices, institutions and social relationships that, in turn, govern how he (or she) participates in different communities at various scales. Gender, employment, sexuality, cultural practices and consumption shape the daily life of the ‘Unknown Citizen’, as well as various local and state institutions. Written in 1939, the poem illustrates that ‘our identities are not made in isolation, but are made in places, and are socially constructed and historically contingent’ (Pykett 2010: 132). ‘The Unknown Citizen' by W. H. Auden (1939)
(To JS/07 M 378 This Marble Monument is Erected by the State) He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be One against whom there was no official complaint, And all the reports on his conduct agree That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint, For in everything he did he served the Greater Community. Except for the War till the day he retired He worked in a factory and never got fired, But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc. Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views, For his Union reports that he paid his dues, (Our report on his Union shows it was sound) And our Social Psychology workers found That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink. The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way. Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured, And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured. Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. Our researchers into Public Opinion are content That he held the proper opinions for the time of year; When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went. He was married and added five children to the population, Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation. And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education. Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard. Auden’s poem, published in 1939 after he emigrated to the USA, is a satire on conformity in people’s daily lives. It is written from the perspective of a fictitious government department intent on surveying the life of a citizen through the technologies of statistics. Citizen JS/07 M 378 (his social security number) is celebrated (by means of a statue that alludes to the ‘Unknown Soldier’) for being a ‘good citizen’ by means of his ‘civic virtue’ that conforms to an expected set of ‘moral behaviour, social practices and cultural beliefs’ (Turner 2001: 11). As a result of his compliance he remains anonymous and ‘unknown’.
The poem provides a thought-provoking introduction to everyday citizenship. It questions how people are identified as compliant citizens in ways that leave little room for emotive or affective behaviour (‘Was he happy? The question is absurd’) and mourns the loss of individual identity in modern society. Socio-cultural approaches to geographies of citizenship have attempted to place greater emphasis on individuality, which is sometimes lost in wider debates about citizenship (Staeheli 2011).
Auden’s poem ends with a line that sinisterly implies action would be taken if the citizen did not conform to expectations of civic virtue, be it not complying with his union, not supporting the state in time of war, not consuming goods as expected and, more generally, fitting in with prevailing socio-economic trends. Given that many European countries were in the grip of or threatened by dictatorships at the time of writing, the threat of state action against non-conformity was very real. The state, however, is not the only agency that can shape behaviour. How would, for example, the citizen’s ‘mates’ behave if he was unpopular, what would his union do if they considered him a ‘scab’ and would his employers, Fudge Motors Inc., fire him if his work was not satisfactory? Citizens who do not conform to expected norms may also face de jure and de facto exclusion from places, especially public space (Painter and Philo 1995). Socio-cultural approaches to citizenship help to highlight the exclusionary nature of many daily practices.
