Sociálny štát a sociálne občianstvo: Quo vadis?
Social state and social citizenship: Quo vadis?

Summary/Abstract: The social state crisis as well as the post-socialist transformation of society and consequential reforms have been discussed in many studies, but most scholars have analysed and explained them from liberal and libertarian perspectives. This paper draws on the Marshall theory of citizenship when examining these phenomena and emphasizes the social dimension of citizenship and social rights of the citizens. Based on both Slovak and foreign studies and research papers, this article analyses present changes in the labour market (increasing power asymmetry between locally-bound work and global capital, dualization of labour market, precarious forms of employment) as well as shifts in the system of social protection (from universalism to a targeted approach, from rights to legitimizing criteria) and social insurance (from universalism to privatization and commercialization). We must point out that the content of the reforms as well as their political reasoning and social discourse omitted ideas of the social rights and human dignity. In this article, we emphasize the positive effects of the social state, such as the fact that it acknowledges full citizen status, the role of an individual, and maintains social cohesion, stability and the democratic status quo.

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