The Levellers, political literacy and contemporary citizenship education in England

This paper analyses the concept of political literacy (as introduced in the 1998 Crick Report) in relation to Citizenship in the English National Curriculum. It argues that political literacy has not been sufficiently emphasised or facilitated within this foundation subject and that the concept is particularly important for students at a time of considerable political and social conflict in England (and elsewhere). The authors state that engagement with the ideas and practices of the Levellers (a political group writing and agitating at the time of the Civil Wars) could enable students and teachers to explore political literacy (especially the implications of social media) by looking at a political group who utilised mass pamphlettering as a form of political communication. The paper will also investigate the context of Citizenship within the English National Curriculum and some of the philosophical concerns around Citizenship education. It contains a section placing the Levellers in their contemporary and historiographical contexts

Social contract and beyond:Sociability, reciprocity and tax ethics

Paying taxes is a moral obligation owed by members of a community to their community. This obligation is determined by the legislature. Subsequently the tax authorities collect the amount of taxes citizens are due. Paying taxes might thus seem to become an exclusively legal affair - a legal obligation towards the state replacing a moral obligation towards society. What to think of this? In this chapter we delve into political and legal theory to find an answer to this question. Social contract theorists and their critics searched principles for a viable civil polity. Hobbes, Spinoza and Hume focused on political and legal authority and obedience grounding their theories in various pictures of human motivations and human sociability. These different starting points resulted in diverging conceptualisations of the relationships between ruler and subjects and between subjects and fellow subjects in terms of reciprocity. We will show the consequences thereof for the relationship between tax law and morality. Different conceptions of the reciprocal relationships involved may invite behaviour varying from minimalist compliance to a more liberal compliance with tax law. Taxpayers facing absolute sovereignty may thus adopt a legalistic attitude and be willing to exploit the letter of the law or loopholes rather than stay within the spirit of applicable tax legislation