Social Welfare in Western Society by Bernice Neugarten

Author:Bernice Neugarten [Neugarten, Bernice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781412808521
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 2009-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Developing Concept of Citizenship

In Chapter 1, the following question was posed: On what basis does anyone deserve anything from society? The answers to this question vary from one society to another, and from one historical period to another. Here is a quick sketch of a developmental sequence of answers to this question in Western society: In the period after the fall of the Roman Empire, people deserved what they could take by force. As feudalism developed, the most powerful people continued to be entitled to what they could take and hold by force; less powerful people were entitled to what they were given by the more powerful in exchange for services to them. Rights of entitlement were also regarded as hereditary, but kings often disregarded customary rights and took what they wanted. In response to their arbitrariness, limitations were placed on the power of rulers. Rights of citizenship began to be proclaimed.

The rights of citizenship developed gradually in modern Western society (and here the focus is on England, the earliest society to develop these rights). Sociologist T. H. Marshall has classified the rights of citizenship into three types: civil rights, political rights, and social rights. Civil rights are those that are basic to individual freedom: freedom from arbitrary arrest; freedom of thought, speech, and religion; the right to own property; and the right to enter into contracts. These rights gained acceptance during the eighteenth century as part of the larger process that established individualism and laissez-faire as dominant ideas in society. A crucial and even earlier link in the chain of development of the rights of citizenship was the abolition of hereditary servile status (serfdom), which had lingered after feudal times into Elizabeth’s time, when it was abolished. People became free to work wherever they could get work, and they were entitled to receive a wage in exchange for their work.3 (It must be noted, however, that the Law of Settlement and Removal hampered this right by restricting freedom of movement.)

Political rights are rights to participate in the exercise of political power, either as a member of a decision-making body such as Parliament or any legislature, or as a voter in political elections. The expanding middle class gained increased political rights from the Reform Bill of 1832, which shifted some of the voting power from the rural aristocracy to the growing numbers of urban businessmen. The bill, however, included a financial qualification for voting. Wage earners were thus largely excluded until their political activity generated enough pressure to produce the Reform Bill of 1867 and the Reform Bill of 1884, which removed all financial qualifications for voting. All men (but not yet women) thus had the right to vote.

The social rights of citizenship range from the right to a moderate amount of economic welfare and security to “the right to share to the full in the social heritage and to live the life of a civilized being according to the standards prevailing in the society.”4 Social rights derived originally from membership in a local community; the serf had a right to basic economic welfare and security.

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