THE CONSEQUENCES OF WELFARE-REFORM - HOW CONCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL RIGHTSARE CHANGING

The idea of the welfare state is commonly grounded in the principles o f social rights, universality and solidarity, Over the past twenty yea rs, welfare reforms have challenged the salience of this conceptualisa tion. This article argues that changes such as austerity measures, pen sion reform, administrative decentralisation and efforts to revive the obligation of citizenship have fostered a more discursive conception of social rights, When rights are discursive, the relative power of va rious clientele interests plays a greater role in the distribution of benefits than objective conditions of need. Also, such notions as univ ersality and solidarity are giving way to selectivity and individual r esponsibility as the paramount principles of the welfare state.