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Social Justice Research

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09-10-2017

Contributive Justice: An Exploration of a Wider Provision of Meaningful Work

Author: Cristian Timmermann

Published in: Social Justice Research | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Extreme inequality of opportunity leads to a number of social tensions, inefficiencies and injustices. One issue of increasing concern is the effect inequality is having on people’s fair chances of attaining meaningful work, thus limiting opportunities to make a significant positive contribution to society and reducing the chances of living a flourishing life and developing their potential. On a global scale, we can observe an increasingly uneven provision of meaningful work, raising a series of ethical concerns that need detailed examination. The aim of this article is to explore the potential of a normative framework based upon the idea of contributive justice to defend a fairer provision of meaningful work.

previous article Russian Adaptations of General and Personal Belief in a Just World Scales: Validation and Psychometric Properties

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Adrian Walsh (1994, 248) concludes that “meaningful work (i.e., eudaimonian activity in the workplace) is a legitimate distributive good, which should be included alongside other distributive goods such as wealth, education, leisure goods, and income”. Yet while we may be able to identify jobs that in their job description offer opportunities to exercise and develop skills that demand engagement with theory, in practice we can only distribute such jobs within a small group provided all commit to do a fair share of tedious tasks as well. At a global level, the task of distributing meaningful work fairly becomes unfeasible. This type of practical impediment pushes the distribution of meaningful work beyond the realm of what can be addressed through principles of distributive justice (cf. Lamont & Favor, 2013).

See Yeoman (2014, 237) for a discussion, primarily questioning the real freedom people have to choose the work they will do in the labour market.

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Title: Contributive Justice: An Exploration of a Wider Provision of Meaningful Work
Author: Cristian Timmermann
Publication date: 09-10-2017
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Social Justice Research / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 0885-7466
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6725
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-017-0293-2

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