Conditionality of Public Assistance and the Legitimacy in Japan and the U. S. A.

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Poverty has been rediscovered recently in developed countries and a revision of the social security for minimum income has been required. The study focuses on the conditionality of public assistance programs in Japan and the U. S. A. It examines the design of the conditionality and the legitimacy of such programs.The conditionality is considered as way of hampering freedom and autonomy of the individuals who receive the benefits, and it has negative impact on the qualitative aspect of poverty, stigmatization for example. The conditionality has many elements, of which the combinations are different between Japan and the U. S. A. Both of countries, however, do not draw up a deliberate plan on the conditionality. Therefore, such policies have problems with legitimating. Also, the social norm of self-reliance or duty related to legitimacy should be reconsidered in more broad policy against poverty.