Original scientific article Received 15 March 2019, accepted 1 July 2019 Karina Schlingensiepen-Trint Citizenship, democracy and social work An exploration toward a direct link In democratic constitutional states there is a gap between social inequalities as a result of capitalist societies and the status of free and equal citizens guaranteed by the constitution. This paper argues that social work, by "mediating" between the individual and society, is not only confronted with this gap. It can be shown that there is a direct linkbetween social work, democracy and citizenship. The following hypotheses are laid out. (1) Social rights are the necessary condition for realizing the status of a free and equal active citizen. Social rights are necessary in order to achieve democratic conditions. (2) Taking into account the fact that rights are meaningless if there are no social conditions available for the individual to realize them, this paper argues that social rights implemented and guaranteed by a welfare state are needed but not sufficient. (3) The author points out that social work is crucial for the individual to really make use of his or her status as an equal free citizen and therefore for realizing democratic conditions. The paper ends with some consequences that arise from this theoretical consideration. Keywords: social rights, welfare state, citizen, social policy, social conditions. Karina Schlingensiepen-Trint, PhD candidate, is a research assistant in Educational Science/Social Work Unit at the School of Human and Social Science, the University of Wuppertal, Germany. She focuses her research interest mainly on theoretical issues, especially concerning possible foundations and justifications of social work. Contact: schlingensiepen-trint@uni-wuppertal.de. Državljanstvo, demokracija in socialno delo - raziskovanje neposredne povezave V demokratičnih ustavnih državah obstaja vrzel med družbenimi neenakostmi, ki so posledica kapitalistične družbe, in statusom svobodnih in enakopravnih državljanov, ki ga zagotavlja ustava. Avtorica trdi, da se socialno delo s tem, ko "posreduje" med posameznikom in družbo, s to vrzeljo ne samo pasivno srečuje. Pokazati je mogoče, daje med socialnim delom, demokracijo in državljanstvom neposredna povezava. Predstavljene so tri hipoteze. (1) Socialne pravice so nujni pogoj za zagotovitev statusa svobodnega in enakopravnega aktivnega državljana. Socialne pravice so nujne, če hočemo zagotoviti demokratične razmere. (2) Ker pravice nimajo smisla, če ni družbenih razmer, v katerih bi jih posameznik lahko uresničeval, avtorica trdi, da so socialne pravice, ki jih uresničuje in jamči država blaginje, sicer potrebne, niso pa dovolj. (3) Avtorica opozori, da je socialno delo ključno, če hoče posameznikzares uveljavljati svoj status enakopravnega svobodnega državljana in če hočemo zagotoviti demokratične razmere. Na koncu članka je opisanih nekaj posledic takšnega teoretskega razmišljanja. Ključne besede: socialne pravice, država blaginje, državljan, socialna politika, družbene razmere. Doktorska kandidatka Karina Schlingensiepen-Trint je raziskovalka in asistentka na Enoti za edukacijsko znanost in socialno delo na Šoli za humanistiko in družbene vede na Univerzi v Wuppertalu v Nemčiji. Raziskovalno se ukvarja predvsem s teoretskimi vprašanji, zlasti s tistimi, ki 3 so povezana z utemeljitvami socialnega dela. Kontakt: schlingensiepen-trint@uni-wuppertal.de. V m