States can owe obligations to the poor without granting them corresponding rights
Evidence
This basic sociological relationship explains the peculiar complications of rights and duties which we find in modern assistance to the poor by the State. Frequently we find the principle according to which the State has the obligation to assist the poor, but to this obligation there is no corresponding right to assistance on the part of the poor. As has been expressly declared in England for example, the poor person has no recourse to action for unjust refusal of assistance, nor can he solicit compensation for illegally refused assistance. All the relations between obligations and rights are located, so to speak, above and beyond the poor. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 414
Categorization
- XREF: Provides a concrete institutional example of the reader’s thesis that urban systems categorize and objectify people — the poor legal subject is structurally similar to the objectified stranger in Lofland’s framework. — connects to: Society aids the poor to neutralize a threat, not to help them — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 410; Certain laws provide facilities for realizing wishes instead of imposing duties. — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 175; States relieve visible need while private charity treats individual causes — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 434 (+2 more)
- DEFINE: Defines the structural asymmetry of obligation without right, useful as a precise theoretical term.
Related
- Society aids the poor to neutralize a threat, not to help them (similarity 0.81)
Broader Connections
- Society aids the poor to neutralize a threat, not to help them
#qualifies(0.50) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 410 - States relieve visible need while private charity treats individual causes
#exemplifies(0.45) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 434 - Certain laws provide facilities for realizing wishes instead of imposing duties.
#expands(0.35) — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 175