Citizenship And Social Right:the Study Of T.H. Marshall’s Welfare Idea

Social welfare idea makes a great difference on the development of social welfare system. During the construction and development of welfare system in western countries, T.H. Marshall’s welfare idea based on citizenship not only provides a theoretical explanation for the legitimacy of welfare capitalist countries, but also greatly influences the welfare construction of other European countries. T.H. Marshall’s discourse on citizenship from the perspective of history indicates that people can not have complete citizenship right until the social right element be a part of citizenship. On one hand, the institutionalized welfare system of welfare state protect people’s opportunities to enjoy complete citizenship, on the other hand, it’s people’s natural right to enjoy welfare because of their citizenship. T.H. Marshall’s welfare idea based on citizenship pursues universal equality and freedom. However, T.H. Marshall’s welfare idea is not perfect, one reason is that inner contradictions exists in his theory, another reason is that the change of social environment is weakening its realistic foundation. The revival of the Republican Citizenship and the rise of the Third Road may provide us a direction to think about the future of T.H. Marshall’s welfare idea.Thus, this paper will discuss the developing history of England welfare practices; analyze the logical relationship among citizenship, social right and welfare state, and also think about the challenges T.H. Marshall’s welfare idea is facing and its future development, all these trying to help people better understand T.H. Marshall’s welfare idea from a much deeper and larger extent. This research not only helps us to better understand western capitalist welfare system, but also offers a reference for the construction of our welfare ideas and welfare system.