Civil and Economic Rights

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Table of Contents

History of Civil Rights
Nonracial Discrimination
History of Economic Rights
American Welfare System
References

History of Civil Rights

Civil rights are the rights of citizens of a country that include basic freedoms guaranteed by the state. One of the first attempts to establish civil Rights on a state level can be traced to Rome. There, inequality persisted as the society was divided into free people and slaves, yet both of the groups had established rights. A series of documents in the 17th and 18th century continuously included fundamental rights to freedom of speech, the ban on slavery, voting rights, equal opportunities, and other rights. These documents and amendments to them gradually expand basic freedoms, pursuing the establishment of equality on a state level.

Although basic civil rights were already established in documents, the quest for equality and justice persisted as not in every country people could exercise those rights. In the 20th century, horrors of the Second World War brought the world to collaborate in this sphere, so several international documents on civil rights emerged in 1948, 1953, and 1966. The public campaigns in the United States and visionary ideas of Martin Luther King brought attention to the black minorities, whose rights were still left unattended. As a result of campaigns and universal attention to it, Civil Rights Act of 1968 was elaborated. It partly addressed the matters of the black population and other minorities, yet the fight for equality continues as factually, there are still incidents of rights violation.

Nonracial Discrimination

Nonracial discrimination regarding civil rights is most commonly associated with employment. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially made sexual discrimination illegal. In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment constitutes discrimination as well in many cases. The EEOC issued binding guidelines on the issue. Meanwhile, legislative attempts to end disability discrimination had been ongoing for more than a century until the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. It explicitly defined disability and established the concept of reasonable accommodation, which was further developed by the American with Disabilities Act (Shafritz, Russell, Borick, & Hyde, 2017).

History of Economic Rights

Before the 19th century, not much attention was paid to defending rights as the productive powers, and the numbers of the workforce were rather slim. Workforce rarely enjoyed sanitary conditions, fair payment, adequate working day, etc. The controversy that was instigated by Beards book on elite and their manipulation of the U.S. economy has brought attention to the economic rights and freedoms in the country. Later, Roosevelt proposed an idea of much spoken about Economic Bill of Rights. It was implemented in 1944 and documented right to work, fair income, housing, health care, education, and other freedoms. Labour unions took over the defence of these rights at the lowest level of authority.

After the Second World War, the efforts of developed countries to establish governmental protection for the rights of labourers and common people continued on a global level. 1945 and 1946 UN Charter and declaration of human rights once again stated the basic rights of people in the economic domain. A broader international document in 1976 once again stated them and proclaimed the need for constant monitoring of the state and realization of these rights. Many states such as Illinois also documented the rights in their governing documents. Overall, presently, there are local, state-wide, national, and international documents that proclaim the rights and those rights can be defended at court if a need arises.

American Welfare System

The welfare system is the multifaceted state mechanism that transfers financial and material aid to those who need it. In the 20th century, social security act established governmental financial support for people of age, mothers with children, and physically handicapped. With time and development of the U.S. as a state with increasing value for social benefits, the amounts of financial help grew, and the target groups broadened. AFDC and the other documents included more and more groups including the elaborated funding pathways and establishing rules for attaining support. Civil rights movement of the 60s contributed to the diversification of the help and raised an issue of black people exclusion from aid programs.

Presently in the U.S., the trend for enlarging support programs for those who require assistance either material or financial is maintained. The broad and complex system of health insurances for eligible groups of the needy population has been established and developed in the U.S. for a long time. Due to that initiative, many people who were uninsured and cannot afford health care services were now able to receive it. SNAP is another mechanism of the welfare system that works towards reducing the needy population. The measures do not address the primary causes of poverty and mainly deal with its consequences (Dorfman, 2016).

References

Dorfman, J. (2016). Welfare offers short-term help and long-term poverty, thanks to asset tests. Forbes. Web.

Flora, P. (2017). Development of welfare states in Europe and America. London, UK: Routledge.

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). (2008). Indicators of welfare dependence: 2008 research brief. Web.

Shafritz, J. M., Russell, E. W., Borick, C. P., & Hyde, A. C. (2017). Introducing public administration. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.

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Civil and Economic Rights

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