This book presents a critical account of how citizenship unfolds among socially marginalised groups in democratic welfare states. Legal, political and sociological perspectives are applied to offer an assessment of the extent and depth of citizenship for marginalised groups in countries which are expected to offer their members a highly inclusive form of citizenship. The book studies the legal and political status of members of a nation-state, and analyses how this is followed up in practice, by examining the subjective feelings of membership, belonging or identity, as well as opportunities to participate actively and be included in different areas of society. Showing how the welfare state and society treat citizens at risk of social exclusion and offering new insights into the conceptual interconnection between citizenship, social exclusion, and the democratic welfare state, the book will be of interest to all scholars, students and academics of social policy, social work and public policy.

"This book presents a critical account of how citizenship unfolds among socially marginalised groups in democratic welfare states. Legal, political and sociological perspectives are applied to offer an assessment of the extent and depth of citizenship for marginalised groups in countries which are expected to offer their members a highly inclusive form of citizenship. The book studies the legal and political status of members of a nation state, and analyses how this is followed up in practice, by examining the subjective feelings of membership, belonging or identity, as well as opportunities to participate actively and be included in different areas of society. Showing how the welfare state and society treat citizens at risk of social exclusion and offering new insights into the conceptual interconnection between citizenship, social exclusion, and the democratic welfare state, the book will be of interest to all scholars, students and academics of social policy, social work and public policy"--

Citizenship as a status assumes that all those encompassed by the term 'citizen' are included, albeit within the boundaries of the nation-state. Yet citizenship practices can be both inclusionary and exclusionary, with far-reaching ramifications for both nationals and non-nationals. This volume explores the concept of citizenship and its practices within particular contexts and nation-states to identify whether its claims to inclusivity are justified. This will show whether the exclusionary dimensions experienced by some citizens and non-citizens are linked to deficiencies in the concept, country-specific policies or how it is practised in different contexts. The interrogation of citizenship is important in a globalising world where crossing borders raises issues of diversity and how citizenship status is framed. This raises the issue of human rights and their protection within the nation-state for people whose lifestyles differ from the prevailing ones. Besides highlighting the importance of human rights and social justice as integral to citizenship, it affirms the role of the nation-state in safeguarding these matters. It does so by building on Indigenous peoples' insights about linking citizenship to connections to other people and the environment and arguing for the inalienability and portability of citizenship rights guaranteed collectively through international level agreements. These issues are of particular concern to social workers given that they must act in accordance with the principles of democracy, equality and empowerment. However, citizenship issues are often inadequately articulated in social work theory and practice. This book redresses this by providing social workers with insights, knowledge, values and skills about citizenship practices to enable them to work more effectively with those excluded from enjoying the full rights of citizenship in the nation-states in which they reside.

This book investigates the origins, current state, and fundamental value of social safety nets in developing countries, as well as their effectiveness in these settings. Social safety net programs (SSNPs) are critical because they keep those who are already vulnerable from falling deeper into poverty. Analysing how social safety nets benefit the most disadvantaged and marginalized members of society by allowing those in need to become financially stable, more resilient, and open up more opportunities for themselves, this book shows that social safety nets (SSNs) are a collection of social services designed to protect people from the effects of economic and emotional hardship. Showing that the purpose of the safety net is not to provide permanent financial security, but rather to provide temporary financial security during periodic shocks and how this applies in South Asia and also in parts of Africa, this book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, sociology, social work, and Global South politics more generally.

This volume analyses citizenship in relation to recent changes in European welfare states. It examines concrete changes in social rights and citizenship roles, and offers normative investigations of citizenship.

Taking nine European countries as case studies, the contributions to this volume analyze the ways that citizenship has changed in key areas such as social security, labor market policies and social services.

After World War II, states on both sides of the Atlantic enacted comprehensive social benefits to protect working people and constrain capitalism. A widely shared consensus specifically linked social welfare to democratic citizenship, upholding greater equality as the glue that held nations together. Though the "two Wests," Europe and the United States, differ in crucial respects, they share a common history of social rights, democratic participation, and welfare capitalism. But in a new age of global inequality, welfare-state retrenchment, and economic austerity, can capitalism and democracy still coexist? In this book, leading historians and social scientists rethink the history of social democracy and the welfare state in the United States and Europe in light of the global transformations of the economic order. Separately and together, they ask how changes in the distribution of wealth reshape the meaning of citizenship in a post-welfare-state era. They explore how the harsh effects of austerity and inequality influence democratic participation. In individual essays as well as interviews with Ira Katznelson and Frances Fox Piven, contributors from both sides of the Atlantic explore the fortunes of the welfare state. They discuss distinct national and international settings, speaking to both local particularities and transnational and transatlantic exchanges. Covering a range of topics—the lives of migrant workers, gender and the family in the design of welfare policies, the fate of the European Union, and the prospects of social movements—Democracy and the Welfare State is essential reading on what remains of twentieth-century social democracy amid the onslaught of neoliberalism and right-wing populism and where this legacy may yet lead us.