Introduction

This chapter explores how the dominant praxis of social citizenship has changed over time. Status, rights and identity are a gestalt of the social contract (Joppke, 2007). In this spirit, the key features of citizenship cannot be considered in isolation. By examining the changing function and relationship between rights and responsibilities, it is possible to understand how citizenship status and identity are both nurtured and negated by the welfare state. The chapter starts by situating welfare austerity within its historical context in order to moderate some of the claims made about its impact and repercussions for social citizenship.

While all domains of welfare activity have a significant bearing on social rights, the ability to fully exercise other social, civil and political rights is dependent on a minimum level of income (Torry, 2013). Without this, other rights are rendered ‘empty moral possessions’ (Melden, 1979: 248). Social security, including pensions, makes up the largest share of public social spending in the UK and its share of total expenditure has grown substantially over time (Hood and Oakley, 2014). Social security, then, is the core welfare domain, but it is also the most contested. As such, this chapter focuses principally on how social citizenship has been articulated through the social security system.

Over time, social security entitlements have shifted according to the political paradigm in vogue, the target beneficiary group in question, and the demographic and economic pressures bearing down on public finances. The changing enactment and experience of social security can be broadly characterised as a ratcheted transition from a social democratic period of welfarism (1945–79) to a post-Keynesian era of neoliberal citizenship (1979 to the present day). The first section of this chapter outlines the historical and contemporary context from which the prevailing citizenship configuration has emerged in the UK, to establish the extent of continuity and change engendered through welfare austerity. This section illustrates how welfare austerity is producing an increasingly bifurcated system of social citizenship that has come to authenticate the status and reward the practices of some, to the exclusion and denigration of others.