Deserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistance

dc.contributor.authorSeekings, Jeremy
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-09T07:29:10Z
dc.date.available2016-05-09T07:29:10Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.date.updated2016-05-09T07:26:23Z
dc.description.abstractThe constitution charges the government with the progressive realisation of the right of impoverished citizens to income security. In practice, this means that the government must have a reasonable defence of the current size and shape of its social assistance and social insurance programmes. Legal challenges have forced the state into providing such a defence of its social assistance programmes. In summary, the state justifies the current size and shape of this system primarily on the grounds that the state is targeting its scarce resources on the most 'disadvantaged' groups, where disadvantage is defined in terms of past opportunity not of current need. In this view, the social assistance system should help those groups of people who had fewest opportunities to provide for themselves. This argument entails a new version of the distinction between 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor. The state's application of this argument in recent court papers is flawed empirically, but in making the argument the state has provided a basis for constructive debate on the shape of the welfare state.en_ZA
dc.identifierhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1353/trn.0.0023
dc.identifier.apacitationSeekings, J. (2008). Deserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistance. <i>Transformation</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19505en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSeekings, Jeremy "Deserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistance." <i>Transformation</i> (2008) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19505en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSeekings, J. (2008). Deserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistance. Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa, 68(1), 28-52.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0265-3788en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Seekings, Jeremy AB - The constitution charges the government with the progressive realisation of the right of impoverished citizens to income security. In practice, this means that the government must have a reasonable defence of the current size and shape of its social assistance and social insurance programmes. Legal challenges have forced the state into providing such a defence of its social assistance programmes. In summary, the state justifies the current size and shape of this system primarily on the grounds that the state is targeting its scarce resources on the most 'disadvantaged' groups, where disadvantage is defined in terms of past opportunity not of current need. In this view, the social assistance system should help those groups of people who had fewest opportunities to provide for themselves. This argument entails a new version of the distinction between 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor. The state's application of this argument in recent court papers is flawed empirically, but in making the argument the state has provided a basis for constructive debate on the shape of the welfare state. DA - 2008 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Transformation LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2008 SM - 0265-3788 T1 - Deserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistance TI - Deserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistance UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19505 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19505
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSeekings J. Deserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistance. Transformation. 2008; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19505.en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisherSAGE Publicationsen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Social Science Research(CSSR)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.sourceTransformationen_ZA
dc.source.urihttps://muse.jhu.edu/journal/198
dc.titleDeserving individuals and groups: the post-apartheid state's justification of the shape of South Africa's system of social assistanceen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Seekings_Deserving_2008.pdf
Size:
294.06 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.72 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Collections