The translation of needs into rights: Reconceptualising social citizenship as a global phenomenon

Abstract

The article proceeds from the contention that rights are socially constructed; that social rights are constructed through the naming and claiming of needs; and that social citizenship provides the context for the realisation of such rights. It is argued that needs precede rights, but both are framed within two intersecting dimensions: sociality (the competing meanings that attach to social interdependency) and negotiation (the dynamics of the claiming process). From this premise, the article advances a post‐Marshallian concept of citizenship that is truly social; that may be constituted in a variety of modes and at a variety of sites at the points at which competing understandings of needs and rights collide; that may transcend territorial boundaries; that may be shaped by a spectrum of means, ranging from local customs to international covenants; that may be centred on a politics of need as the process whereby needs are translated into rights.

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