Citizenship discourse has expanded beyond humans to plants, animals, and corporations.

Evidence

The last decade has witnessed a return of the citizen and of citizenship both in academic and in political discourse (Kymlicka and Norman, 1994). The number of research projects, books, journals, conferences, and articles dealing with citizenship issues has also increased dramatically. The words “citizenship” and “citizen” are used in a growing number of different areas and social contexts. Whereas these words were traditionally linked exclusively to human beings, there are now discussions about the citizenship of plants, of animals, and of corporations. In many ways, the concept of citizenship has certainly become a political slogan. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 807

Categorization

• CANDY: The idea that citizenship is now discussed for plants, animals, and corporations is a light, tweetable observation about concept creep.