内容简介：
从提供内战退伍军人及遗属福利金开始，美国联邦政府逐步介入原本属于私人慈善和地方政府职责的社会保障领域，并在20世纪60年代“伟大社会”期间得以完善。美国社会保障体系演进，将公民权利从基本的民事和政治权利,拓展至经济和社会权利,以此增强了公民对联邦的认同，同时合法化和增强了联邦政府的财政汲取和行政管理能力。这个过程重新定义了公民与联邦政府为代表的现代国家的契约，重塑了州与联邦政府的关系，增强了联邦政府对经济和社会事务的渗透。社会保障体系的发展过程就是美国现代国家的建设过程，社会保障体系本身就是现代国家的重要组成部分。
Starting from introducing and administering Civil War Pension program for veterans and their dependents, the U.S federal government has been increasingly involved in the provision of social security to all the citizens, an obligation which was initially the responsibility of charity and subsequently of local and state governments. The expansion of social security provision by the federal government has not only greatly extended the spectrum of rights of American citizens—from basic civil rights and political rights to economic rights and social rights，but also legitimized and strengthened the financial extractive capacity and administrative capacity of the federal government. The emergence and evolution of the social security system in the US has fundamentally redefined the contractual nature between US citizens and the modern state as represented by the federal government. This process has also reshaped the federal-state relationship, strengthened federal government’s capacity to intervene in economic and social affairs. The development of the social security system has contributed significantly to make the US federal government one of the most comprehensive as well as well-defined state apparatus. Social security development is part of the state-building process in the US, and the system itself is an important part of the modern state.
