Welfare rights and responsibilities : contesting social citizenship

This text focuses on the twin themes of welfare reform and citizenship.

Specifically it explores three issues central to citizenship's social element: provision, conditionality (the link between welfare rights and responsibilities), and membership.

It offers an overview of contemporary debates about the contested concepts of citizenship and welfare, adds an empirical dimension to the debates, and allows the (presently marginalized) voices of welfare service users to become valued in debates about the extent of social citizenship and the reform of the welfare state.