Dignity and the State: New Foundations for Citizenship

Demonstrates how contemporary social movements, defined as collective activity around moral & political issues, have undergone enormous transformations in their relationships to the state & civil society. Observations are grounded in analysis of T. H. Marshall's notion of social citizenship as an arena of conflicts regulated by morality & strong mediation by the state. The pulls & pushes of Montreal's war against poverty & the welfare reform movement in Quebec illustrate the remoralization of spheres of political & social dissent, & point to the juxtaposition of classic liberal rights with emerging counterrights. This process, it is asserted, redefines the role of the state & its social institutions as a fin-de-siecle place of conflict & transformation. 1 Table, 57 References. Adapted from the source document.