Sozialrecht in der Zeit

By (author) Eberhard Eichenhofer

Book cover: Sozialrecht in der Zeit

Extent: 190 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: German Studies

Language: German

Paperback (Forthcoming)

(January 2027)

ISBN: 9783162011091

5.75 x 8.9 inches

Price: $90.00

Social law structures the course of human life, connects generations, and reflects a complex temporal dimension. Shaped by history as a form of social technology, it must adapt to demographic ageing and ecological transformation. Embedded in time, social law must continually respond to changing social realities.


The social law of a state operates across both space and time. Eberhard Eichenhofer explores the following question: What are the implications of the temporal nature of social law? Social law structures the course of human life, shapes people’s living conditions, and becomes particularly relevant during transitions into new phases of life. Social law is embedded in history; it became necessary as a form of social technology and a principle of social organization due to particular social conditions, and possible through scientific insights and philosophical thought.
Social law establishes social rights with the aim of achieving social justice: securing livelihoods and protecting individuals against social risks. In doing so, it does not alter the primary distribution of resources generated by the economy but builds social rights upon the foundations of a privately organized and highly specialized economy. Because it is oriented toward the present, rooted in the past, and broadly concerned with safeguarding the future, social law possesses a complex temporal structure.
Its temporal dimension is perceived differently in legislation, adjudication, and administrative implementation. It connects generations and thereby binds them to one another, giving rise to questions of distribution and intergenerational justice. The ageing of society poses fundamental challenges to social law, just as social law profoundly challenges society in return. Social law also gains importance in the context of ecological transformation, as it bears the social costs of that transformation and accompanies socially the transition to more environmentally sustainable technologies and ways of life.
Social law is facing far-reaching reforms, as exemplified by the current reform of old-age provision. How should these plans be assessed? Social law exists in time and must prove itself within it.

I. Sozialrecht ist zeitgebunden - II. Geschichtlichkeit des Sozialrechts - III. Gegenwärtigkeit des Sozialrechts - IV. Sozialrecht kompensiert Verluste aus der Vergangenheit - V. Sozialrecht gestaltet Zukunft - VI. Sozialrecht der alternden Gesellschaft - VII. Nachhaltiges Sozialrecht - VIII. Reformen des Sozialrechts - IX. Sozialrecht steht in der Zeit

Eberhard Eichenhofer (Von (Autor))
Professor of Civil Law and Social Law at Friedrich Schiller University Jena; emeritus since 2016.

  • By (author) Eberhard Eichenhofer