社会保障一词最早出现于 1935年美国颁布的“社会保障法”。西方许多著作把社会保障制度的起源追溯到 19世纪 80年代德国的社会保障法。社会保障作为一种制度 ,是通过国家立法的形式 ,为保障人民的基本生活 ,安定社会 ,促进生产发展而制定的一系列制度的总称。社会保障一经产生 The term social security first appeared in the Social Security Law promulgated by the United States in 1935. Many works in the West trace the origins of the social security system to German social security laws of the 1880s. As a system, social security is a general term for a series of systems that have been formulated in the form of state legislation to guarantee people’s basic livelihood, stabilize the society and promote the development of production. Once social security is created