Reference no: EM131471584

Please rewrite the assignment attached below in your own words. Keep the content but the wording and sentence structuring has to be different to avoid plagiariarism. There are citations provided that you need to still use but the wording and sentencing of the information should be different that the assignment below.

Adrian Oldfield and Richard Dagger use the term altruism to differentiate between universal selflessness and a political community's collectivism. Oldfield writes, "citizenship is not about altruism: it is about acknowledging the community's goals as one's own, choosing them, and committing oneself to them. Citizenship is exclusive, it is not a person's humanity that one is responding to, it is the fact that he or she is a fellow citizen" (Oldfield, 81). He argues that republican citizens do not help one another out of human empathy; they do it because they recognize one another as members of a larger group. Republican citizenship limits generosity to one's community where one citizen helps another for the sake of the entire group. Dagger echoes this belief by stating "a republican cannot be a wholehearted cosmopolitan" (Dagger, 155). The authors contend that altruism occurs only outside of one's community and is solely humanitarian because an outsider's wellbeing does not benefit oneself. Altruism denotes help to others for no personal gain. While republican citizenship may appear to expect such selflessness, Oldfield and Dagger state that republican citizenship does not forgo self-interest. Unlike altruism, republican citizenship does not prohibit self-interest but redirects into communalism. Oldfield and Dagger demonstrate how republican citizenship is not benevolent but instead stresses a community's interest. Oldfield writes, "citizenship cuts across both religious and secular universalism and involves recognizing that one gives priority, when and where required, to one's political community" (Oldfield, 81). Although republican citizenship requires that the community's interests take precedence, the practice still satiates one's self-interest. The goal of republican citizenship is to frame each individual's self-interest within the community's interest: the citizen "is made to feel himself one of the public, and whatever is for their benefit to be for his benefit" (Dagger, 151). The concept encompasses the republican idea that what is best for the community is simultaneously best for you, which demands citizens' active participation in and support of the community. In contrast to altruism's selflessness, Dagger and Oldfield use this belief to argue that by helping fellow citizens, one is helping their community, and ultimately themselves. These beliefs in communalism create the foundation for republican citizenship. Although republican citizenship is not altruistic, it does not encourage individuals to follow their immediate self-interests. Rather, the republican tradition obligates citizens to be active in bettering their communities. Dagger elaborates, "republican citizenship works to overcome this pernicious form of individualism by fostering the individual's sense of himself or herself as a part of, rather than apart from, the public" (Dagger, 152). The idea means that citizens cannot distinguish their interests and concerns from the public, and that extreme individualism is harmful to the community. Proponents of republican citizenship similarly assert that one cannot be too humanitarian. Citizens cannot be devoted members of their community if they are more concerned or occupied with altruistic acts to those outside of it. Dagger states "to be a citizen, in 1 the republican view, is to be a partner in common enterprise, and people will be likely to put the common interest ahead of their own - to act as true citizens - only when they fell themselves to be part of such an enterprise" (Dagger, 156). Republican citizenship therefore claims that extending attention beyond the immediate community dilutes commitment. The republican tradition is built on citizens' responsibilities and actions to their community. Dagger and Oldfield would likely argue that a community with unmitigated inclusiveness would lose its unity. At its core, members of republican citizenship are to rule and be ruled. The concept necessitates consistent participation by citizens to discourage individualism and "free riders" (Oldfield, 87). "Citizenship, as conceived in civic republicanism, entails community" (Oldfield, 89). Both Dagger and Oldfield believe that people need communities to survive and should therefore support the communal interest. The republican citizenship system reasons that citizens should help each other because it will in turn help them. Hence, the motivation to help citizens is far from selfless. Republican citizenship instead sees altruism as humanitarianism, which clashes with the commitment one should have to their political community.