Abstract:
Purpose – Currently, we observe different experiments in (partially) outsourcing public social protection to the market. Here, I identify two very different paths to outsourcing social protection: fragmentation of social protection on the one hand (in personal savings accounts), and amalgamation of social protection on the other (in life-course savings schemes). Design/methodology/approach – This study is theoretically based on the combination of three concepts which allow us to analyse changes in social citizenship by means of social policy change and changes in resource flows. Firstly, on the concept of life-course regimes as put forward by Kohli (1986); secondly, on the concept of social citizenship as proposed by Marshall (1964); and thirdly, on the concept of flows of resources related to these rights (Maier & Harvey 2004). The theoretical and methodological linkage of these concepts was first applied by Frericks (2007).Findings – These very different concepts of outsourcing social protection have implications for social inequalities, new insecurities and foreseeable under-insurance. This is because, on the one hand, social protection redesign changes the obligatory character of social insurance, and on the other, it changes the social construction of the adequately protected which may no longer correspond to the factual situation of various groups of citizens.Originality/value – The outlines of upcoming gaps in social protection, however, cannot adequately be grasped by the differentiation between insiders and outsiders of welfare systems. Although these gaps are related to status, they are more the result of life-course trajectories, life-course timing and age, implying that both the two current policy paths change intra- as well as intergenerational differences in social protection. The characteristics of the two policy concepts and their foreseeable implications for social inequalities are analysed.