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Citizens
- Author
- Jon Alexander
- Narrator
- Jon Alexander, Brian Eno
- Publisher
- Canbury Press Ltd
- Publish Date
- 18 June 2022
- Run Time
- 8 hours 53 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Citizens is a bold, uplifting wake‑up call for anyone who feels that democracy, community, and everyday life have been reduced to clicking, buying, complaining — and waiting for "them" to fix it. If you're tired of politics-as-performance, brands-as-saviours, and institutions that treat people like customers or problems to manage, this book hands you a different lens: the Citizen inside every one of us.
Jon Alexander's core idea is brilliantly simple and deeply practical: to change the future, we must change the story. He reveals the hidden narratives shaping modern society — and why so many well‑meaning reforms fail because they keep the same assumptions in place.
The three stories:
• The Consumer Story: we're users, consumers, taxpayers, and voters-as-buyers. We demand, choose, and rate while organisations compete to "serve" us.
• The Subject Story: in fear and uncertainty, we trade agency for protection — hierarchy, obedience, surveillance, and strongman certainty.
• The Citizen Story: we are interdependent, creative, empathic people who can participate, collaborate, and co‑create solutions. Citizenship becomes a verb: engagement, responsibility, belonging, contribution.
With a foreword by Brian Eno and praise from leading voices in democracy, business, and social change, Citizens makes a persuasive case that the Citizen Story is already rising — often beneath the media radar. From citizens self‑organising in crisis to neighbourhood renewal, Alexander shows how citizen power and collective intelligence can outperform "top‑down" command or "market fixes" when challenges are complex: climate change, inequality, polarisation, loneliness, and loss of trust.
What you'll get from this book:
• A fresh, memorable framework for democratic renewal, civic participation, and citizen-led change (ideal for readers of politics, social science, and systems thinking)
• A clear diagnosis of why consumerism can't solve the problems it created — and why "change without consequences" is a dangerous fantasy
• Real-world stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary work —f rom Birmingham and Berlin to Kibera, London, and Grimsby—proving that citizenship is not rare; it's human
• Practical pathways to participatory democracy: citizens' assemblies, deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, community organising, volunteering, crowdfunding, civic tech, and open innovation
• A sector-by-sector roadmap for transforming the institutions that shape our lives: Citizen NGOs, Citizen Business, and Citizen Government
• "Social acupuncture" tools for leaders, organisers, and teams: find the leverage points where energy for a new way is ready to flow, then unlock it
Citizens is designed to be used, not just admired. It's equally valuable for public servants, educators, nonprofit leaders, business leaders, community organisers, activists, and social entrepreneurs. It also includes questions for discussion and reflection — ideal for book clubs, classrooms, leadership teams, and civic groups.
If you want hope without hand‑waving — and a practical, inspiring guide to participation, collaboration, and rebuilding democracy from the ground up — Citizens will change how you see people, power, and possibility. It's a manifesto for democratic innovation and civic imagination: moving from passive consumption to active citizenship, from endless outrage to shared responsibility, and from isolated individuals to resilient communities. Step out of the Consumer mindset. Claim your role as a Citizen.
Critics Review
-
What are we, as members of a global society? This book argues that we are merely consumers, simply because this is what we're told we are. But what if we were to tell ourselves a different story? What is we were to consider ourselves global citizens, with all of the freedom and responsibility this might involve? Brian Eno, in his introduction, writes: "The two dominant narratives today are China – a Subject state with centralised power and deep surveillance – and Siliconia – a Consumer state and deep surveillance". Never a truer word, eh? Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad suggest – or rather insist – that it's high time the dominant narrative was one created by us, the ornery human beans, rather than by the few who chase only power and money. It's an inspiring idea. This is an inspiring book. But it's not a "woo" book. It's a practical toolkit for improving not just our global society but all of the challenges we face, be it climate change, famine, war. And we can use the very media which has made consumers of us all to facilitate the change. Like most brilliant ideas, it's simple. And profound. The text of this book should be taught in every second-level civics class everywhere.
Sunday Independent (Ireland)
-
In Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us (Canbury Press, £20/$30, 320 pages), Alexander, writing with Ariane Conrad, focuses on one particular way of improving the world: by encouraging people to think as citizens, not consumers. A former advertising man, Alexander became deeply disillusioned with his trade. He believes that the consumer society encourages people to be simultaneously entitled and passive. Citizens, by contrast, are engaged and embrace the idea of the common good. His lively book - which has become something of an underground hit - highlights new forms of active citizenship, such as the rise of the Effective Altruism movement and the foundation of community self-help organisations in the slums of Africa.
Financial Times
-
When award-winning adman Jon Alexander was on his way to work one day, he started throwing up in the London Underground. He realized why: he was literally sick of his job in advertising, and more profoundly, the culture of consumerism that means each of us receives between 1,500 and 3,000 commercial messages a day. This narrative – or Consumer Story – dominates our lives so pervasively we barely notice it happening. Something had to change. The organization that Alexander went on to co-found – the New Citizenship Project – and this book, written with New York Times writer Ariane Conrad, are a consequence of that realization. Citizens tells how consumerism is collapsing in on itself and risks bringing us all down with it in a chaos of powerlessness and ecological collapse. But it's mainly about how the transition 'from consumer to citizen' is not only essential but possible and, in some places, already happening. Five portraits of 'emblematic citizens' – only one from the Global South, alas – show us how what starts as an individual citizen's action can lead to far greater change to tackle shared problems that may seem insurmountable. Upbeat, ambitious and packed with ideas and examples, this book shows how, if we exercise our power as citizens (think of citizenship as a muscle that grows with use rather than a limited space or capacity), we can create an active, participatory, collaborative Citizen Story at every level – in communities, organizations, businesses and governance.
New Internationalist
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Details
- Author
- Jon Alexander
- Narrator
- Jon Alexander, Brian Eno
- Duration
- 8 hours 53 minutes
- Release Date
- 18 June 2022
- ISBN
- 9781914487040
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Canbury Press Ltd
- Genre
- Civics and citizenship, Consumerism
Synopsis
Citizens is a bold, uplifting wake‑up call for anyone who feels that democracy, community, and everyday life have been reduced to clicking, buying, complaining — and waiting for "them" to fix it. If you're tired of politics-as-performance, brands-as-saviours, and institutions that treat people like customers or problems to manage, this book hands you a different lens: the Citizen inside every one of us. Jon Alexander's core idea is brilliantly simple and deeply practical: to change the future, we must change the story. He reveals the hidden narratives shaping modern society — and why so many well‑meaning reforms fail because they keep the same assumptions in place. The three stories: • The Consumer Story: we're users, consumers, taxpayers, and voters-as-buyers. We demand, choose, and rate while organisations compete to "serve" us. • The Subject Story: in fear and uncertainty, we trade agency for protection — hierarchy, obedience, surveillance, and strongman certainty. • The Citizen Story: we are interdependent, creative, empathic people who can participate, collaborate, and co‑create solutions. Citizenship becomes a verb: engagement, responsibility, belonging, contribution. With a foreword by Brian Eno and praise from leading voices in democracy, business, and social change, Citizens makes a persuasive case that the Citizen Story is already rising — often beneath the media radar. From citizens self‑organising in crisis to neighbourhood renewal, Alexander shows how citizen power and collective intelligence can outperform "top‑down" command or "market fixes" when challenges are complex: climate change, inequality, polarisation, loneliness, and loss of trust. What you'll get from this book: • A fresh, memorable framework for democratic renewal, civic participation, and citizen-led change (ideal for readers of politics, social science, and systems thinking) • A clear diagnosis of why consumerism can't solve the problems it created — and why "change without consequences" is a dangerous fantasy • Real-world stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary work —f rom Birmingham and Berlin to Kibera, London, and Grimsby—proving that citizenship is not rare; it's human • Practical pathways to participatory democracy: citizens' assemblies, deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, community organising, volunteering, crowdfunding, civic tech, and open innovation • A sector-by-sector roadmap for transforming the institutions that shape our lives: Citizen NGOs, Citizen Business, and Citizen Government • "Social acupuncture" tools for leaders, organisers, and teams: find the leverage points where energy for a new way is ready to flow, then unlock it Citizens is designed to be used, not just admired. It's equally valuable for public servants, educators, nonprofit leaders, business leaders, community organisers, activists, and social entrepreneurs. It also includes questions for discussion and reflection — ideal for book clubs, classrooms, leadership teams, and civic groups. If you want hope without hand‑waving — and a practical, inspiring guide to participation, collaboration, and rebuilding democracy from the ground up — Citizens will change how you see people, power, and possibility. It's a manifesto for democratic innovation and civic imagination: moving from passive consumption to active citizenship, from endless outrage to shared responsibility, and from isolated individuals to resilient communities. Step out of the Consumer mindset. Claim your role as a Citizen.
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