Lecture 3 (Citizenship Rights, Social Welfare, and Surveillance)

Question 1

The broadened scope of citizenship rights included 2 things (Marshall):

Answer 1

1. What people could do
2. To whom rights are eligible

Question 2

Citizenship acc. Marshall

Answer 2

The rights and duties of the members of a (national) political community

Question 3

Sequential modernisation theory (Marshall)

Answer 3

The order in which three kinds of citizenship rights were sequentially introduced:
1. Civil rights
2. Political rights
3. Social rights

Question 4

Civil rights (Marshall)

Answer 4

Protect the freedom of the individual from governments, organisations, and other individuals that try to take away that freedom (e.g. voting rights, right to a fair trial, freedom of speech, etc.)

Question 5

Political rights (Marshall)

Answer 5

Enable individuals to actively participate in the political world of their state or society (e.g. right to vote, to become political candidate, etc.)

Question 6

Social rights (Marshall)

Answer 6

Moral, legal, or societal rules that are needed to fulfil personal needs of the people, to meet their basic life necessities (e.g. right to have access to food, education, healthcare, public services, etc.)

Question 7

Two rights that are tightly connected acc. Marshall

Answer 7

Political rights and social rights. In order to independently use political rights, one must receive proper social rights. This protects the state from inequality and bought votes.

Question 8

Origins of everlasting tension between rich and poor

Answer 8

When social rights are not sufficient to make up for inequalities (e.g. no right to education, shelter, food, etc.). In many democracies, the rich try to withhold as many social rights as possible, and the poor try to change the income distribution with provided rights –> the rich withholding too many rights can result in revolution

Question 9

Based on sequential modernisation theory, Marshall argues that political citizenship rights cannot function without social citizenship rights. This arguments can result in two ‘endpoints’:

Answer 9

1. Everybody who’s citizen of a certain society has to be granted social citizenship rights (so they can independently use their political rights)
2. Political citizenship rights are handed out only to those that can afford social citizenship rights

“Necessary precondition for the responsible exercise of the franchise” - Waldron

Question 10

Critique Soysal on sequential modernisation theory

Answer 10

For migrants, the sequence of gaining rights is not civil, political, social, but rather civil, social, political (sometimes, political rights are not given at all)

This means that political rights for migrants have become a symbol of national sovereignity (feeling as if being able to make a change)

Question 11

Soysal’s optimistic view about the rights of guestworkers

Answer 11

There is a trend of international harmonisation of the rights of non-citizens, which can be considered a step closer to global citizenship (migrants that are not formal citizens increasingly have more rights)

Question 12

Soysal’s global citizenship

Answer 12

Foundation for inclusion within all three rights is based on being a person, and not on being a person belonging to a specific nation.

Question 13

Symbolic foreigners (Soysal)

Answer 13

Speaking of ‘foreigner’ will be largely symbolic when these foreigners enjoy the same rights based on global citizenship (with global citizenship, you cannot really be a foreigner any more)

Question 14

Three arguments against more progressive calls for social citizenship rights (Hirschmann)

Answer 14

1. The perversity argument
2. The futility argument
3. The jeopardy argument

Question 15

Hirschmann’s rethoric tricks, use

Answer 15

Used by conservatives against the implementation of more progressive calls for social citizenship rights

Question 16

The perversity argument against more progressive social rights + Plant’s counterargument (Hirschmann)

Answer 16

Social rights will weaken the system by encouraging people to stop working

Plant: people will become more motivated knowing they have a social safety net to catch them

Question 17

The futility argument against more progressive social rights (Hirschmann)

Answer 17

Social rights will undermine the ability of society to be its own safety net (e.g. through family, church, etc.). - the government need not intervene with this

Question 18

The jeopardy argument against more progressive social rights (Hirschmann)

Answer 18

Social rights are too expensive and therefore form a risk to the already existing system

Question 19

Hayek’s arguments defending more progressive social rights (2)

Answer 19

1. Political citizens must be economically independent, which can be reached by socioeconomic security, less inequality, and redistribution of risk - all this can be reached by social benefits
2. Social rights become difficult to think away once introduced because people assume they will be there for a long time. This allows people to take risks because they know they can fall back onto a system of social security. This can be healthy for an economy/society

Question 20

Hayek’s critique on Marshall

Answer 20

Social rights are fundamentally different from civil and political rights because they are positive rights and run into the problem of compossibility

Question 21

Positive rights

Answer 21

Based on needs, make claims on scarce resources. It is difficult to get moral consensus on what fundamental needs are that should be included in these rights. (social rights, acc. Hayek)

Question 22

Negative rights

Answer 22

Allow you and others do, or not do, something. These rights do not rely on scarce resources or moral consensus. (civil and political rights, acc. Hayek)

Question 23

Problem of compossibility

Answer 23

Not everyone can claim a certain right on the exact same moment because the right relies on scarce resources (e.g. money, hospital beds, etc.).

Question 24

Social rationing

Answer 24

The government deciding who has the right to claim which rights and when

Question 25

Hayek's road to serfdom

Answer 25

Acc. Hayek, social rationing can result into a road to serfdom - a scenario in which governments ration social rights and heavily regulate markets, replacing individual choice of the individual to use a social right with bureaucratic coercion which tells them they perhaps cannot (citizens are no 'free' actors in this situation)

Question 26

Plant's critique on Hayek critiquing Marshall

Answer 26

Plant states that civil and political rights, just as social rights, also claim scarce resources and thus also run into the problem of compossibility (e.g. they are maintained by law enforcement, judges, etc.). For these negative rights it is also difficult to reach moral consensus.

Question 27

Moral consensus for rights

Answer 27

Moral consensus for rights refers to everybody within a society agreeing on what should be included in civil, political, and social rights. This is however an impossible goal within a morally heterogeneous society.

Question 28

Thought experiment (Waldron

Answer 28

Waldron argues that for most people, citizenship is not something they choose. He introduced a thought experiment about what kind of social order (structures, institutions, roles of a society) people would choose if they could.

Question 29

Social contract

Answer 29

Refers to the idea that society is only rightful when based on principles that the majority in the society can agree on. Waldron claims the social contract is a myth, it is not as if people once came together to discuss how society should be formed - and sure as hell not everybody had a veto right to certain ideas.

Question 30

Rawls's thought experiment where individuals can design principles of justice, 'theory of social justice' principles

Answer 30

1. Principle of equal liberty 2. Principle of difference 3. Veil of ignorance

Question 31

Principle of equal liberty (theory of social justice, Rawls)

Answer 31

Each person has an equal claim to basic rights and liberties, as long as those tights are compatible with those of others (so, do not take away from others)

Question 32

Principle of difference (theory of social justice, Rawls)

Answer 32

There can be wealth and income inequality as long as they make the less advantaged better off

Question 33

Veil of ignorance (theory of social justice, Rawls)

Answer 33

Forces people to care about fairness and not just their own interests, results in introduction of social rights (cuz you never know if you will get sick, poor, etc.)

Question 34

What was Treguers idea about surveillance?

Answer 34

Surveillance increases the power of the states (and big tech companies) over its citizens - it is the ideal-typical disciplinary regime of power

Question 35

Financial cuts and healthcare, 3 statements

Answer 35

1. Financial cuts in healthcare negatively affects the ability of the national health system to cope with a sudden surge of hospital patients (social rationing is guaranteed) 2. Biolegitimacy 3. The effects of lockdowns are downplayed by the government and then normalised (e.g. normalisation of digital passports)

Question 36

The meaning of 'never waste a good crisis'

Answer 36

Crises can offer opportunities for governments and/or big tech companies to increase their surveillance of citizens (e.g. in a digital manner) - and therefore their power over them. Big tech companies increase their power

Question 37

The surveillance relationship between government and big tech companies

Answer 37

Relationship of state actors and non-state actors. This becomes a relationship of interdependence: government needs tech companies to sell them surveillance equipment, tech companies need the government to purchase their surveillance tech --> results in both increasing their power over citizens

Question 38

Two types of surveillance power (Mann)

Answer 38

1. Despotic power 2. Infrastructural power

Question 39

Despotic power (Mann)

Answer 39

Using visible coercive strength for surveillance

Question 40

Infrastructural power (Mann)

Answer 40

Using 'invisible' digital infrastructure for surveillance, and to softly push citizens into a certain direction

Question 41

Meaning: 'From rule to law, to rule by law'

Answer 41

Refers to new surveillance programmes being created in the absence of appropriate legal frameworks (no laws for them!). This results into governments having to post-hoc adjust their laws, so they can meet procedural requirements of what governments want to do --> benefits their own surveillance plans (use grey areas to legitimise it)

Question 42

Discretionary power

Answer 42

The power to decide on who gets something (usually something that uses scarce resources), and who does not (a tool of social rationing, if the government does social rationing, they may grand discretionary power to surgeons in hospitals to decide who needs a surgery more than another person)

Question 43

Community of Saints vs. Scarcity of Motivation

Answer 43

The "community of saints" refers to a hypothetical society in which everyone fully respects the rights of others, and social rights are compossible because resources are not scarce. In the real world, however, scarcity means that social rights often require rationing and can come into conflict. According to Hirschman’s perversity thesis, attempts to expand social rights may sometimes lead to unintended consequences, such as reduced motivation to work, which can undermine both the effectiveness and compossibility of those rights, resulting in a scarcity of motivation.