The term of social
security was first used in the U.S. Social Security Act from 1935, which was
taking into consideration only workers from industry and commerce. Today the
concept has universalized both as familiarity and as implementation.
Social
security is a concept enshrined in Article
22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
Everyone,
as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to
realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in
accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic,
social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free
development of his personality.
In general sense, social
security refers to protection provided by the society to its members against
providential mishaps over which a person has no control.
According to the
explanatory dictionary of Romanian language social security is "all legal
regulations to ensure social safety status at the individual, social group or
total population and to protect the disadvantaged and marginalized. The main
social security measures are unemployment benefits, sickness and maternity aid,
child benefits and pensions." The following points emerge from this
definition:
Ø Social security is seen
only in terms of legal rules;
Ø Social security targets
the three levels of social aggregation: the individual, as singular entity,
social groups, as partial aggregations with certain defined features and the
total population as a whole unit, regardless of heterogeneity;
Ø Social security refers
not only to safety ("lack of distress"), but also to protection
("support, helping someone ..."). While safety is universal,
protection is limited to disadvantaged for whatever reason, be it natural -
people in need, be it social - people marginalized ("... deliberately
ignored");
Ø Social security
measures enumeration is not exhaustive, as such, the object of social security
is variable;
Ø In terms of concepts,
from this definition it is clear that social security has two components:
social safety and social protection.
Social
security may also refer to the action programs of government intended to
promote the welfare of the population through assistance measures guaranteeing
access to sufficient resources for food and shelter and to promote health and
well-being for the population at large and potentially vulnerable segments such
as children, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed. Services providing
social security are often called social
services.
From our point of view
social security is a dynamic concept which can be seen as a consequence as
having two components: social protection and social security. The premises
which we take into consideration are that:
Ø Protection means
insurance against risks (protection is reflected by legal rules against risks
such as unemployment, sickness, disability, death, maternity etc.).
Ø Safety means no dangers
(prevention policies of various kinds of risks – workplace conditions, deterioration
of quality of life, corruption, crime, inequality, environmental damage etc.).
Ø Security means
protection and safety.
Ø Basically there is a
narrow view of the concept of social security, which coincides with that of
social protection and a wider one that tends towards the notion of social
welfare.