Culture and Citizenship: a case study of practice in the BBC Laurence Pawley, Goldsmiths College, University of London. Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. I declare that the work contained presented within this thesis is my own. Laurence Pawley, 30 September 2009 2 ABSTRACT: This thesis constitutes a critique of current citizenship theory, focussed on the ways in which various definitions of `culture' have gained recognition as part of citizenship's theoretical terrain. Through a qualitative case study of practice within the BBC, the thesis reflects on the limitations and potentialities of current scholarship, and suggests how a pragmatic cultural citizenship might offer a way forward. The thesis begins through an engagement with existing literature which produces distinct `models' of citizenship: liberal, liberal cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, and `deep cultural'. These models function as a conceptual `toolkit', and the following chapter demonstrates how, via public sphere theory, they can be applied to understand the relationship between communicative institutions and citizens. The relationship between citizenship theory and media practice is thereby made explicit, laying the foundations for subsequent empirical work. The empirical chapters take the form of a qualitative case study of policy and practice in the BBC. This begins with a brief analysis of the institution's policy history with respect to citizenship, and subsequently focuses on the 2006 broadcast Manchester Passion. The case study reveals how policy relating to issues including identity and participation was implemented at the micro-level. In doing so, the thesis explores how which different conceptualisations of citizenship function in concert with practical `logics' (including economy, cultural difference, and genre). Building on this analysis, the thesis concludes by suggesting that the BBC's practice was most effective when it adopted a pragmatic approach to cultural conflicts. This argument (described in terms of `cultural balance') is mapped back onto the models developed earlier in the theses, and used to propose that citizenship theory should seek to reimagine itself on a more fluid basis; one that recognises that citizenship is inevitably realised in socially and culturally specific circumstances. Contents Chapter 1. Introduction Page 6 Chapter 2. Citizenship- Theory, contestation, typology 15 2.1. T. H. Marshall and beyond: the problematisation of citizenship 16 2.2. Citizenship and capitalism 19 2.3. Citizenship beyond the nation-state: liberal cosmopolitanism 24 2.4. Citizenship and culture: multiculturalism 27 2.5. Citizenship and culture: deconstructing identity 33 2.6. Deep cultural citizenship 36 2.7. Towards a typology of citizenship 41 2.8. Conclusion 52 Chapter 3. Citizenship, the public sphere, and communicative institutions. 53 3.1. Mediation and technologies of citizenship 55 3.2. The public sphere 61 3.3. Conclusion 84 Chapter 4. Methodology and Method 86 4.1. From theory to practice: the case study 88 4.2. Manchester Passion as a case 94 4.3. Constructing a research design 97 4.4. Conclusion 108 Chapter 5. Citizenship and the BBC- History and Policy, 1925-2004 109 5.1. From Crawford to Peacock, 1925-1986.111 5.2. Change and continuity 134 5.3. The modem BBC and 'Building Public Value' 137 5.4. Conclusion 153 4 Chapter 6. Manchester Passion: competing contexts, competing publics 155 6.1. The BBC, religious sensitivity, and Jerry Springer 160 6.2. From Flashmob to Passion: participation 167 6.3. Commissioning and development: Manchester as a site of citizenship 173 6.4. Commissioning and development: Manchester Passion and religion 184 6.5. Commissioning and development: citizen participation and representation 195 6.6. Commissioning and development: cultural product, hierarchy, and 199 education 6.7. Conclusion: the complication of ideals 206 Chapter 7. Manchester Passion: text and reception 210 7.1. Representation: practice and evaluation 212 7.2. Representation, dialogue, and authenticity 235 7.3. Manchester Passion and participation in practice 240 7.4. Conclusion 256 Chapter 8. Conclusions and agenda 258 8.1. Reflections on Manchester Passion 261 8.2. Implications for theory and policy 281 Bibliography 290 Appendix A: Chapter 5- primary documents 303 Appendix B: Interview details 304 List of Tables Table 1: models of citizenship - Page 49 Table 2: mapping the public sphere - Page 80 Table 3: categorisation of forum and blog data - Page 104 5 Chapter 1: Introduction The motivation behind this thesis rests in the juxtaposition of dual, long-standing interests: the status of the concept of citizenship, and the role of communicative institutions (most obviously those of the mass media) in contemporary political communities. To explicate the dynamic between these strands of thought, it is helpful initially to discuss the first. When asked to conceptualise the notion of being a citizen, most people would undoubtedly refer to their political membership of a nation-state, and perhaps to notions of individual rights. In doing so, we discursively wed citizenship to a Westphalian political settlement that has, particularly since the 1990's, been the subject of intense problematisation and critique. In the rush of social theory towards alternative discourses (notably those based around fluid accounts of identity, and a politics decoupled from institutions of the nation-state) citizenship as it was historically formulated might appear obsolete. This analysis has, however, met with resistance, for what I believe are two distinct reasons. Firstly, the demise of the `old' politics has been over-stated; institutions and norms created at the national level continue to form a key determinant of the lives of communities. While the position of the nation-state is undoubtedly subject to new contestations, the result has been a renewed focus on citizenship and its application in modern societies. Many of these ideas form a familiar part of our political landscape: the relationship between the nation-state and trans-national or supra-national sites of power, the status of minority communities and the pluralisation of national identity, and a renewed concern with social cohesion and participation in the context of a fragmented, heavily mediated public discourse. Even, for example, in an established nation-state like the United Kingdom, recent policy initiatives have included citizenship classes in schools, and proposals have been made by members of the ruling Labour Party for an annual `British Day' and new cultural stipulations for migrants (Kelly and Byrne, 2007: 6). Citizenship remains a `live' political concept, albeit one mobilised in reference to a wider range of debates that reflect the prominence of cultural and identity politics. Secondly, there is something about the concept of citizenship itself which points to its survival even in the event of its de-coupling from its institutional history. In considering 6 ourselves as citizens, we capture a set of intersections that speak to our social lives. Citizenship exists between the public and private, acknowledging the status of individuals as members of a bounded community. It implies the consequent existence of rights and responsibilities, demonstrating both the existence of social norms and principles, and our mutual interdependence in ensuring that these conditions are fulfilled. It also speaks strongly to discourses of inclusion and exclusion: the naming of `citizen' as a category presumes that its opposite, that of `non-citizen', is also possible. Through these intersections amongst others, citizenship is revealed as a rich theoretical site from which to consider our relationship with any form of political society, and with the other selves who inhabit it. Whether this society takes the form of a nation-state or otherwise, citizenship would, I believe, retain its conceptual force. The continual relevance of citizenship is emphasised by a glut of recent scholarly interventions into the concept: interventions which, generally speaking, seek to rework citizenship as realised in modem nation-states (usually Western liberal democracies) by responding to shifts in social theory. This work has come from a number of scholarly traditions and disciplines, but oscillates around the role of `culture' (and specifically, the ways in which traditional citizenship theory has failed to account for culture's effects on the status of citizens as members of a political community). By "culture", I refer specifically to the multiple definitions supplied by Williams: respectively referring to the customs of a community, texts and artefacts, and a broad `way of life' (Williams, 1958). It was an awareness of these disparate interventions which particularly motivated this research. Political theorists, seeking to respond to a transfer of political power to supra and trans-national levels have encouraged debate on `global citizenship', evoking a sense of kinship which transcends the nation. Anthropologists and sociologists have considered the actualities of citizenship for minority groups, often arguing for a concept of `group rights' as a means of redressing inequalities predicated on cultural difference. And the development of cultural studies has emphasised the role of texts and discourse in shaping our political and social relations. This latter development, typified most recently by Miller's diatribes against the limiting effects of neo-liberalism on mediated