Social security and social protection: questions of theory and practice

In the scientific community, there is a considerable differentiation of opinions on the concepts of social security and social protection. The article formulates that the most important function of social security is the protective one; in practice, this principle has to be observed. An initial argument that the concept of providing is patrimonial in relation to the concept of protection is accepted. Therefore, the term of social protection cannot be wider than the concept of social security; the social security system has to become defining activity of the bodies enabling the realization of the social rights of the population. Otherwise, the humanitarian meaning of social providing of the population in the most social policy of the state is lost. A positive outcome of the discussion could be the rehabilitation of the term of social security, the renewal of its content, and, as a consequence, the construction of a modern model of social security for the population, which would clearly define the role of social and legal protection of the population as instruments for implementing social policy of the state.