The government has launched a sustained attack upon the concept of society, championing the individual. However, in certain arenas they are now providing contradictory messages. For example, health service restructuring is calling for greater citizen involvement, appealing to a simplistic mixture of individualistic and communitarian identities. Located within that arena, this article explores the discourses of 'everyday citizens'. It is demonstrated that there is a greater diversity of citizen and community identities than is recognized in government rhetoric, and it is suggested that this diversity needs to be addressed if citizenship and community are to be useful tools upon which to base policy.
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