Citizenship links our daily life and interests to larger public values and arenas. Through citizenship we build and exercise our power. Active citizenship is tied to an understanding of public life as diverse, contentious, and linked to, but distinct from, private and communal life. Thus the role of citizen can connect people across lines of difference for the purpose of governing and problem solving, drawing on distinct cultural identities and other communities. Public Work Public work is cooperative civic work that is visible and whose significance is widely acknowledged .
Public work helps build our larger common pool of wealth and resources-our commonwealth.
Public work can be paid or voluntary. It can be done in communities. Or it can be done in institutions and across institutions as part of one's regular job. In the fullest sense of the term, public work takes place not solely with an eye to public consequences. This requires political skills such as listening, bargaining, understanding diverse self-interests, and being able to map power relations.