The radical transformations outlined in chapters 9 and 10, from institutions of solidarity to institutions of competition, reflecting a process of transition from a republican to a liberal citizenship discourse, had the effect of extending civil rights and shrinking social rights. The tensions between institutions representing republican, ethno-national, and liberal citizenship conceptions, and sometimes within these institutions as well, we have argued, were clearly demonstrated in the allocation of rights to Israeli citizens according to their group affiliations. Whereas in the Yishuv and Israel's early decades the tensions between republican and ethno-national rights were the most pronounced, beginning with the 1967 war, and more clearly in the 1990s, the ethno-nationalist and liberal conceptions have been the ones more frequently pitted against each other. And whereas in the past the intensity of the struggle was muted, due to the prominence of republican citizenship, which served as the hegemonic mediating center around which other rights were grouped in a single incorporation regime, now the struggle is more open and institutions offering alternative approaches are locked in open conflict with one another.

Inequality and the new wage structure

In Marshall's memorable words, social rights “mean the whole range from the right to a modicum of economic welfare and security to the right to share to the full in the social heritage and to live the life of a civilized being according to the standards prevailing in the society.