This book criticises two rival views of social citizenship rights, as they are presented by two authors who are taken as representatives of broader currents of thought: Friedrich A. Hayek and neo-liberalism, and Raymond Plant and socialism. It is claimed that the alternative view presented here should still be regarded as liberal: it is part of an active view of liberalism, or a self-restrained constructivism, which should be distinguished both from neo-liberal evolutionism and socialist egalitarianism.

This book criticises two rival views of social citizenship rights, as they are presented by two authors who are taken as representatives of broader currents of thought: Friedrich A. Hayek and neo-liberalism, and Raymond Plant and socialism. It is claimed that the alternative view presented here should still be regarded as liberal: it is part of an active view of liberalism, or a self-restrained constructivism, which should be distinguished both from neo-liberal evolutionism and socialist egalitarianism.