PREVIOUS ARTICLE ALL CONTENTS Next ARTICLE

Learning One’s Native Tongue: Citizenship, Contestation, and Conflict in America, Tracy B. Strong

Reviewed by Chloé Bakalar

BUY

 

Citizenship, as a concept, is inherently difficult to define. T.H. Marshall’s seminal 1950 essay “Citizenship and Social Class” described citizenship in terms of three categories of rights—civil, political, and social—that evolved throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, respectively. But citizenship is not only an accumulation of rights or entitlements; it is also an identity, a marker of recognition, a feeling of belonging, an assertion of difference, a set of responsibilities, and potentially much more.

In Learning Ones Native Tongue, Tracy B. Strong introduces his inquiry into citizenship by distinguishing between what it means to be American from being an American citizen (p. 8). One can be an American citizen without identifying as American; historically, many Americans lacked (full) status as citizens. Strong grapples with this seeming contradiction by tracing the development of American citizenship, from the Puritans through the Cold War, in an effort to better understand its meaning and power.

Strong’s interdisciplinary approach, interpreting the history of American institutions and sentiments through a political theory lens, enables an account of American citizenship that embraces the complexities, conflicts, and inconsistencies of the Unit

To continue reading, see options above.

About PSQ's Editor

ROBERT Y. SHAPIRO

Full Access

Join the Academy of Political Science and automatically receive Political Science Quarterly.

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

Academy Forum | The Transatlantic Relationship and the Russia-Ukraine War
January 9, 2025
4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. ET
WEBINAR

MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT VIEW ALL EVENTS

Editor’s spotlight

Virtual Issue

Introduction: Black Power and the Civil Rights Agendas of Charles V. Hamilton
Marylena Mantas and Robert Y. Shapiro

MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC

Search the Archives

Publishing since 1886, PSQ is the most widely read and accessible scholarly journal with distinguished contributors such as: Lisa Anderson, Robert A. Dahl, Samuel P. Huntington, Robert Jervis, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Theda Skocpol, Woodrow Wilson

view additional issues

Most read

Articles | Book reviews

Understanding the Bush Doctrine
Robert Jervis

The Study of Administration
Woodrow Wilson

Notes on Roosevelt's "Quarantine" Speech
Dorothy Borg

view all

New APS Book

Political Conflict in American Politics   POLITICAL CONFLICT IN AMERICAN POLITICS

About US

Academy of Political Science

The Academy of Political Science, promotes objective, scholarly analyses of political, social, and economic issues. Through its conferences and publications APS provides analysis and insight into both domestic and foreign policy issues.

Political Science Quarterly

With neither an ideological nor a partisan bias, PSQ looks at facts and analyzes data objectively to help readers understand what is really going on in national and world affairs.

Stay Connected

newsstand locator
About APS