Economic Crises and Social Citizenship

Abstract

Economic crises, and particularity current economic recession starting in 2008, have caused far-reaching decrease in citizens’ social security. As a result changes occur in two intertwined spheres of citizens’ political participation and welfare state functioning. Thus, there are at least three (new) forms of pressure to the welfare state: need to adjust the protective measures, responding to rising citizens’ claims and the growing scarcity of financial resources. The aim of the panel is to address the issues of welfare state changes from the citizenship perspective. It focuses on the change of social rights, and particularly on the following questions: If the balance between social rights and social responsibilities shifts, and if so how? What changes regarding universalism, generosity and scope of risks covered occur in spite of crisis? How the (re)defining of social entitlement shapes the new boundaries of a political community? For the purpose of the panel the broad notion of social citizenship is presumed, which includes formal social rights, but also informal practices, including the use of discretion rules and street-level democracy on both national and local level. Papers are welcome which apply the theoretical perspective of social citizenship in its various versions, ranging from classical ones to more recent post-structuralist or feminist notions to (comparative) analyses of welfare state changes related to crisis. The papers may refer to general or specific policy fields (e.g. social security system, labour market policies, family policies) and related changes on national or local level.