Auto/Biography 0967-5507 13 2 200506 Sage Publications Sage UK: London, England Book Review: Setting an Important and Positive Tone Citizenship: personal lives and social policy. Gail Lewis, editor, 2004. Milton Keynes and Bristol: Open University and Polity Press; ISBN 1861345216, 184 pp., £17.99 paper MelissaDeareyUniversity of York 182 184

182 Book ReviewSetting an Important and Positive ToneCitizenship: personal lives and social policy. Gail Lewis, editor, 2004. Milton Keynes and Bristol: Open University and Polity Press; ISBN 1861345216, 184 pp., £17.99 paper SAGE Publications, Inc.2005DOI: 10.1177/09675507050130020505 MelissaDearey University of York In the spirit of being `Open to people, places, methods and ideas', the Open University with this book has again confirmed its commitment to this ethos by its responsiveness to an urgent and growing lacuna in the third-level social policy and politics curriculum: the presence and experi- ence of the `user' in social care provision. Citizenship: personal lives and social policy – one of four core texts in the Open University course Personal lives and social policy – represents a bold initiative to `explore the relationship between personal lives and social policy' through the `lens' of citizenship, using what the authors commonly refer to as `per- sonal lives' research methods. In an area of scholarship that has lately been dominated by the macro-theoretical and quantitative influence of globalization and the international patterning of `race', gender and migra- tion to map subsequent changes to national identities and the systematic transformation of the welfare state, this book represents a welcome shift of critical attention back onto the level of the personal and the domain of lived, everyday life. Overall, it marks an auspicious moment in life narra- tive research with respect to its penetration into the wider field of social and political theory and praxis. Divided into four main sections, the authors use the `personal lives' approach to explore and contest the discourses of entitlement and belong- ing through a variety of policy initiatives that have collectively deter- mined rights to housing, education and asylum in the UK since the Second World War. Among the laudable aspects of this book is its reflexive imme- diacy in implementing its own designated objective. Straightaway in Chapter 1, entitled `“Do not go gently”...', editor Gail Lewis introduces the reader to the complex and mutually constitutive terrain of social pro- vision and personal need by recounting an episode from her own life his- tory. Related in a manner that is at once deeply personal and yet integral to the aim of the book, Lewis successfully draws critical attention to the inter-subjective dynamics of `race', sexuality, home and intergenerational 183 relationships in the interface between real life individuals and social services. For a British academic who is revealing part of her past as well as the individual and subjective viewpoint, this is accomplished with a commendable lack of embarrassment either to persons or to theory. As an example of life narrative research praxis, and in conjunction with the imperative for social researchers to aspire to ever greater levels of reflex- ivity and mutuality in practice, this works well, setting a positive tone for how conceptualization and analysis are to proceed according to this alternative way of thinking and acting, noting its divergence away from the traditional legitimacy of authority for those who implement and shape social policy. Where the book is perhaps less successful is in its efforts to provide readers/students with a sufficiently comprehensive theoretical back- ground on the political history and idea of citizenship. The concept of cit- izenship in modern political theory is of signal importance, a complex cultural and historical notion that requires substantive attention as a focal point in its own right. While the personal lives methodology is effectively woven into the fabric of the text, the treatment of and debates over citi- zenship are less rigorous and adequate. Though the chapter devoted to this does an admirable job of relating the richness of the notion of citizenship in the UK since the postwar period, its concentration on Anglophone political philosophies of citizenship and the nation state severely limit its conceptual scope. The noticeable inclusion of Gramsci in this section serves to illustrate the tendency among English-speaking scholars to conflate social and political theory on the continent with Marxism. In a text that seeks to reclaim subjective experience, a less structuralist point of view more in line with the Christian/social democratic tradition on the continent would probably have been better. What is more, considering the increased tendency of charitable and other organizations in the UK to represent the views of service users in by reference to European Social Law and EU Human Rights legislation in order to argue their cases in response to government consultation initiatives, such a concentration on these other theories of citizenship and community would seem to be recommended. Another major problem with this book is the rather unreflective use of the `personal lives' methodology itself. While there is considerable criti- cism of `... the dominant or official discourses, echoed by the media, [and its] focus on evidence, often described as “facts”, which is used to justify every harsher procedures and removal of welfare services and benefits' (p. 152), the critical lens never seems to turn itself back onto the meaning of the individual testimony or personal experience as an alternative theoretical standpoint. Though these stories are powerful and thought- provoking in their potential to `humanize' social policy, laudable as this is, 184 in an academic contest it only goes so far. Such an ostensibly methodical usage of `personal lives' only works to the extent that it convinces people who were already likely to share these views; others may simply reject them as idiosyncratic, and all are likely to eventually become immune to their persuasive powers. The effectiveness of the authors' implementation of life narrative methodology would be greatly enhanced by a more conscious and theoretically reflexive treatment of the form, which readers of this journal will know has been the object of considerable scholarly labour and debate, especially over the last quarter century. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. I have no doubt that in response to students' input, subsequent editions of the text will overcome some of these theoretical oversights, making it an even better read.