A social contract approach to social protection: its potential and limitations

Sophie Plagerson

Chapter 2 in Handbook on Social Protection and Social Development in the Global South, 2023, pp 28-43 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The idea of the social contract has become a basis for reframing social protection within state–society relations. This chapter examines the scope, depth and limitations of the contribution of social protection to the procedural, redistributive and participatory functions of a rights-based social contract, drawing on emerging evidence. The analysis suggests that constitutional reforms, state–civil society engagements and linking social protection to broader social policies may enable and strengthen social contracts. The evidence for social protection to support social cohesion outcomes is mixed and requires further research. In the global South, a critical review of the concepts of ‘state’ and ‘citizen’ is needed: while social protection may be compatible with a social contract approach, its transformative potential to strengthen the social contract is mediated by many socio-political factors and benefits from a social development lens. Careful attention to patterns of inclusion and exclusion is also required.

Keywords: Development Studies; Sociology and Social Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781800378421.00014 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:20324_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Darrel McCalla ().