T.H. Marshall: citizenship is the status enjoyed by a person who is a full member of a community

Three components of citizenship: Civil citizenship Political citizenship Social citizenship

Civil rights include: “the rights necessary for

individual freedom—liberty of the person, freedom of speech, thought and faith, the right to own property and to conclude valid contracts, and the right to justice”

Political rights include: “the right to participate

in the exercise of political power, as a member of a body invested with political authority or as an elector of the members of such a body” Inauguration of Andrew Jackson

Social rights include: “the right to a modicum of

economic welfare and security . . . [and] the right to share to the full in the social heritage and to live the life of a civilised being according to the standards prevailing in the society.”

Is this a dimension of citizenship that you recognize?

Depression-era hunger march

the right to participate in an appropriate standard of living

embodied in the welfare and educational systems of modern societies

include access to health care, education, legal aid, etc.

developed in the 20th century in several nations

Main developments in U.S. federal welfare provision were: Roosevelt administration

laid the foundations for the social security system in the 1930s Workman’s Compensation

and Old Age Insurance Aid to Dependent Children,

Aid to the Blind, Aid to the Handicapped

provided important benefits (notably health care for people on low incomes)

engaged federal government in a wide variety of projects and activities at local level.

Published in 1962

Fraser and Gordon talk about the dual nature of U.S. welfare policy: “contributory” vs.

“noncontributory” programs “contract” vs. “charity”

According to Fraser and Gordon, how are those distinctions gendered?

birth of welfare state marks a break with liberal conception of the state

welfare state gives the state an important role in social and economic life in the name of social imperatives.

deals with the welfare of citizens.

birth of the welfare state means that the redistributive state takes the place of reciprocity and the market.

Public schooling, 1930s

The US does not have a unified welfare system.

Due to federalism, many important functions are held by the States, including public assistance, social care and various health schemes

current reforms of health care reinforce diversity of approaches

Some examples of U.S. Welfare provision: state schooling; social insurance; services

for military personnel, veterans and their families;

In addition to federal and state activity, there are extensive private and corporate interests in welfare provision.

Resulting, mixed welfare systems are complex and expensive guiding principle is less one of consistent

individualism than what Gary M. Klass has called "decentralised social altruism.”

 “ “She has 80 names, 30 addresses, She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veteran’s benefits on four collecting veteran’s benefits on four non-existing deceased husband. non-existing deceased husband. She’s got Medicaid, getting food-She’s got Medicaid, getting food-stamps, and she is collecting welfare stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names.” under each of her names.” 

Ronald Reagan, 1976Ronald Reagan, 1976

“We as Republicans need to realize that you can’t just cut off the welfare queen and balance the budget.”

Rand Paul, Sept. 2010

Thomas Hawk, “We Are the Welfare Queen”

The vaunted New Deal did not bring the country out of the Great Depression. Its numerous programs never died, and like a bad disease, they have spread. Certain of these programs massively altered the relationship between Americans and their government with respect to critical aspect of our lives, violently tossing aside any respect for our founding principles of federalism and limited government. By far the best example of this is Social Security. A New Deal invention, it was clearly intended to be a permanent fixture of the entitlement state FDR was constructing. Private pensions were largely solvent and performing, despite the Depression. Even though the Social Security Act was passed in 1935, the fact that no retirement benefits would be paid until 1942 contradicts any notion that it was directed at an emergency. Moreover, retirement benefits were not payable until age 62, when the life expectancy at the time was only 60. And FDR beat back a popular proposal for a private pension.

Source: Fed Up!, by Gov. Rick Perry, p. 48-49 Nov 15, 2010(www.ontheissues.org. accessed 9-26-11

I believe in getting rates down. That builds our economy. Right now, federal spending is about 60% for entitlements: Social security, Medicare and Medicaid. That’s growing like crazy. It will be 70% entitlements, plus interest, by the time of the next president’s second term. Then the military is about 20% today. No one is talking about cutting the military, we ought to grow it. There’s not enough in the 20% to go after if we don’t go after the entitlement problem. We’re going to rein in the excessive growth in those areas. We’re not going to change the deal on seniors, but we’re going to have to change the deal for 20 and 30 and 40-year-olds, or we’re going to bankrupt our country.

Source: 2008 Republican debate at Reagan Library in Simi Valley Jan 30, 2008 . (www.ontheissues.org, accessed 9-26-11.)

"[W]e need real welfare reform.... I recommend, number one, that you require people to take jobs.“

May 6, 1992.

"And I have a plan to do even better, to end welfare as we know it . . ."

August 12, 1992.

How do Fraser and Gordon characterize the role of liberal contract theory is shaping the American “ontology” of social relations?

Do Fraser and Gordon see contractarian thought as a positive influence on American civic culture?

According to the authors, how has contractarian thought reshaped Americans’ perspective on social dependency?

How has the United States’ indebtedness to liberal contract theory shaped its perspective on social citizenship?

Do you think that the U.S. system of welfare provision discriminates on the basis of gender and race? What about class? Disability?

What are the limitations or weaknesses of U.S. welfare policy, in your view?

Do you agree or disagree with Fraser and Gordon when they conclude, “it is time to insist that there can be no democratic citizenship without social rights”? (65).