T. H. Marshall’s claims that the twentieth century was the era of social rights, embodied in education and welfare policy, has found enduring favour with a wide variety of scholars and social commentators. To what extent, however, was his theory of citizenship and social rights a reflection of the specific moment in which he was writing? This chapter places T. H. Marshall’s concept of ‘citizenship’ within its historical context. Through examining his biography, this essay suggests that Marshall’s theory of citizenship was informed by an appreciation for continental, and especially German, conceptions of social policy, the role of the state, and the nature of community. Parsing this aspect of Marshall’s intellectual biography has important implications for our own understanding of British ideas about the purpose, structure, and scope of social policy during the formative middle decades of the twentieth century.
Practising social work
