The Historical Divergences and Contemporary Convergence of Social Rights

Abstract

Social right is one of the basic elements of citizenship rights. The aim of the social right is to guarantee people’s survival rights. Through the combinaIII tion with regime, nationalism and capitalism, social right exhibits different existIII ing models in history. In the second half of 19th century, after social right comIII bined with nationalism and authoritarian regime it exhibited an authoritarian modIII el in which social rights performed both functions of improving people’s life and promoting legitimacy of the authoritarian regime. Liberal capitalism model of soIII cial right was the production of the adhering combination between social right and capitalism in which the former distorted its own value to serve the latter’s develIII opment. And welfare state model was the antagonisticcombination between social right and capitalism in which social right got the regime’s protection and set itself in a ’warlike relationship with the capitalism. In the late 20 century, the trends of globalization, post-nation state and post-industrialisation drove the social right into a convergent development orbit which reflected by Anthony Giddens posiIII tive welfare thought.