ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the key changes occurring since the mid-1990s in the United States and France, as it concerns the reciprocity relation between the able-bodied poor and the state. The United States and France present two contrasting, and even opposing types of reciprocal approaches in social assistance: the US approach can be described as workfare, while the French approach is insertion. Workfare is a direct consequence of the custom of deservingness, whereas insertion is an extension of the custom of solidarity. In other words, the difference between workfare and insertion is based on the endurance of the characteristics of the assistance-related customs of the countries concerned, revealing a remarkable degree of continuity. In the United States, employment regulation determines assistance regulation and has led to a gradual erosion of social assistance, whereas in France today the assistance regulation influences employment regulation, with a similar effect.
