The unbearable lightness of citizens within public deliberation processes

► Understanding what a citizen is has not been a key object of inquiry in public involvement research. ► This paper, inspired by the observation of a Canadian science/policy network, provides an in-depth description of four different ways of embodying a citizen's role. ►Examining citizens' sociological concreteness shows that their “interests” cannot be separated from their values and knowledge. ► While public involvement participants can only disclose parts of the polity, their rich complexity needs to be acknowledged.