Associations, Modernity and the Insider‐citizens of a Victorian Highwheel Bicycle Club

  The creation of a club, the recruitment of new members, and the subsequent pursuit of an association’s goals by its members present a succession of constitutive acts designed to advance a particular vision of citizenship. That vision may sometimes sit comfortably within the established state order, but quite often the activities of clubs are viewed by the state with suspicion, and may even be deemed subversive. The rights and obligations of an association’s members serve as a blueprint for the form of citizenship pursued, and they participate in the genealogy of citizenship through their efforts to construct particular forms of civic society. By requiring a formal act of membership, all associations are to a degree exclusionary, thus bestowing power and influence on club members. Non‐members are normally viewed as outsiders or as others , and members who fail to respect a club’s constitution may be dropped from the insider‐citizenship it represents. The Montreal Bicycle Club (MBC), formed in 1878, presents an illuminating example of how associations engage in acts of citizenship with its codes of conduct and hierarchies. Its members practiced a version of technological citizenship. MBC members asserted rights of use of the road in fierce competition with other road users, exerted political power through the elite Anglo circles of Montreal, and advocated the virtues of modern technology. Their highwheel bicycles were among the most visible modern artifacts on the streets. They were the first citizens to “go out for a spin”, and there was a distinctive spatiality to many of their riding activities. They present a category of modern citizens whose purpose was to construct a technologically advanced, but highly structured society according to their masculinist vision.