T H Marshall’s Social Citizenship Theory and Its Relevance

Running head: T H MARSHALL’S SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP THEORY AND ITS RELEVANCE
T H MARSHALL’S SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP THEORY AND ITS RELEVANCE
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T H MARSHALL’S SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP THEORY AND ITS RELEVANCE
Introduction
Thomas Humphrey Marshall, known popularly as T.H. Marshall, the British sociologist,
was famous for his collection of essays on political and social issues. His collection Citizenship
and Social Class was one of his seminal works that talked about ‘social citizenship’ (Marshall
1950). The theory of social citizenship states that states have responsibilities towards its citizens
mostly in the social domain. Marshall viewed citizenship as a status conferred upon the full
members of any community. Those possessing this status also enjoy the rights and
responsibilities that come along with it. Marshall then divided citizenship into civil, political and
social.
The aim of this essay is to discuss Marshall’s social citizenship theory and analyze its
relevance in the contemporary world. In doing so, the essay will first elaborately explain the
social citizenship theory. Then, it will focus on the views of other political theorists and
sociologists regarding citizenship. Further, the essay will shed light on the criticism of the
theory. The essay aims mainly to highlight that the social citizenship theory proposed by
Marshall is relevant even today.
Discussion
In 1949, Citizenship and Social Class, a collection of lectures by T.H. Marshall that gave
to the world, the ‘social citizenship theory’. According to Marshall, responsibilities of the state
start from “granting the right to a modicum of economic welfare and security to the right to share
to the full in the social heritage”. Marshall divided modern citizenship into three sections that
included civil rights, political rights and social rights. Previously, communities did not include

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T H MARSHALL’S SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP THEORY AND ITS RELEVANCE
these rights explicitly and these entwined with each other. In addition, these were bound within
the local face-to-face communities.
The social citizenship, according to Marshall emerged in the 20th century from England.
He puts forth three prime factors that resulted in the evolution of the social citizenship. These
included the reduction of the income gap, the vast expansion of the area of common experience
and culture and magnification of citizenship and further rights granted to citizens. It resulted
from a developed social policy as fused in a welfare state.
Marshall claimed that it is rational to suppose that the influence of citizenship on social
class must take the shape of a disagreement between contrasting principles. He believed that
citizenship rights were necessary to maintain the harmonious inequality amongst the subjects in a
capitalist society. The social citizenship rights propagated by Marshall are now most commonly
known as the welfare state. The welfare state is a state where the governments look after the
overall welfare of its citizens. Social citizenship rights give way to the abolishment of
inequalities created by market economies without terminating the markets.
Many have criticized the social citizenship theory as being a theory only for the white
citizens. Revi (2014) notices that Marshall’s social citizenship theory “has come under attack for
undermining the civil liberties, or falling short of offering real equality to marginalized groups”.
Many scholars have even found problems with the definition of social citizenship presented by
Marshall. According to Powell (2002), the sociologists’ work lacks the rigor that was needed to
make the theory strong enough. The author claims that his theory might be criticized for failing
“to specify the level, form and content of social rights” (Powell 2002). After Marshall, many
sociologists and political theorists have attempted to modify the social citizenship theory. (Dean