Social protection, citizenship and the employment relationship

Abstract

This paper addresses the issues of social protection, citizenship and the employment relationship through the lens of South Africa. All ideologies of welfare have at their heart assumptions both about the nature of the relationship between the state and citizens, and about the role of employment in contributing to lifelong security for workers and their families. Beveridge's model of the welfare state was introduced in Britain in the late 1940s at the same time as the National Government came to power in South Africa. The model was built on assumptions about family life and the role of employment in meeting families' needs: that most people would be married, that men would be head of household, that wages earned would be enough to cover the family, and that work would be the chief source of economic security over the lifetime. The wage would be enough to meet present needs, and the family was covered if the main breadwinner had an accident (workers compensation covered costs of accident and wage) or died (widow's allowance).