Buijs argues that the participation society, as the government envisages it, requires a major transformation in social-moral attitudes and infrastructure.1 It requires a new type of citizen. Buys believes that we are now at the crossroads of the conflicting lines of narrative in the story of the citizen. In one line of narrative, the citizen becomes a selfish, calculating individual, who only has its own interest in mind. In this scenario, the citizen grows up in fear of the future, because he knows that in his time of need, he will be at the mercy of people who are themselves selfish and calculating individuals, just like himself. This storyline is the natural continuation of the ongoing trend of the last decades. The welfare state has not only given individuals a great amount of freedom by relieving them from…show more content… Grand stories define who we are and give us a context in which we can place place our current situation. The Exodus out of Egypt was the grand story for the Hebrews. The Gospels and in particular the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ can be seen as the grand story for Christians. In the same way, grand stories can also be applied to non-religious contexts. The Second World War and the ruins it left behind, can in a way be seen as the grand story of the modern welfare state. Grand stories often have an element of crisis in them. We have seen this earlier in this thesis when the development of the Dutch welfare state was discussed. The question is: What is the grand story of the participation story? Is it being written now? Can the current economic crisis be seen as the grand story of the participation society? Of course, this question can only be answered in hindsight. In any case, the grand story of the participation society needs to define the individual as an active and involved member of the community. The individual needs to be the hero of the
